
Class 



_ 



Book - 1 ' ■ 



Copyright^ . 







COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



FACTS ABOUT THE 
BIBLE 



ANGELO HALL, A.B., S.T.B. 

SECOND EDITION 




BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copyright, 19 19, by Angelo Hall 



All Rights Reserved 



- 



Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



JUL 25 1919 
©CI.A529327 



DEDICATED TO THAT WISE MOTHER AND 
BRAVE COMPANION IN ARMS 



MY WIFE 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 

THE first edition of this little book, published 
privately twenty years ago, when I was the 
Unitarian minister at Turners Falls, Massachu- 
setts, has become exhausted. A thousand copies 
were printed, and the bill for printing was paid 
by my father, Asaph Hall, the distinguished as- 
tronomer, who, having known me intimately for 
nearly thirty years, believed in me. 

My reasons for publishing were, I trust, unsel- 
fish, as are my reasons for publishing this Second 
Edition in the fifty-first year of my age. At fifty one 
who has failed in the ministry can hardly hope to 
re-establish oneself by means of such a work as 
this. For the past fourteen years I have earned 
a living as a teacher of mathematics, thus reversing 
the custom in England, where mathematicians have 
secured comfortable livings in the church and then 
proceeded to publish works on higher mathematics. 
I republish this little book now, as I published it 
twenty years ago, simply to pass on to others in- 
formation that may prove valuable. 

The intelligent study of Christianity helps to 

5 



Preface to the Second Edition 



break down sectarianism and to prevent the rank 
growth in the rich soil of America of such weeds 
as Mormonism and Christian Science. Now all 
intelligent study of Christianity must begin with the 
study of the Bible. This I saw as clearly twenty 
years ago as I do to-day. I had spent three years 
at the Harvard Divinity School making as thor- 
ough a study of the Bible as the time permitted — 
not shunning the study of Hebrew as some theo- 
logians do. In my early youth I had had a thor- 
ough drill in Latin, Greek, and mathematics; and 
at Harvard College I had taken high rank, espe- 
cially in mathematics. So I took up the study of 
the Bible with the open mind of a scholar. Let me 
pass on to my fellow citizens the fruit of my labors. 
There is enough of the dynamite of truth in this 
little book to tumble high priests from their thrones 
and so help to make the world safe for democracy. 
"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall 
make you free." 

I have said so much that is personal that I will 
here add another bit of personal history. Eighteen 
months before I entered the Divinity School I had 
read the New Testament carefully, and with a lay- 
man's untutored mind I had made the following 
note, which I sent to that famous theologian, Dr. 
James Martineau, with the comment that the resur- 



Preface to the Second Edition 



rection of Jesus might be accounted for on the 
hypothesis that he had not died upon the cross but 
swooned : 

All four Gospels state that Jesus gave up the 
ghost. But witness these statements: "Then came 
the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and 
of the other which was crucified with him. But 
when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was 
already dead, they brake not his legs." — John 19, 
32-33. "When the even was come, there came a 
rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also 
himself was Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate, 
and begged the body of Jesus." — Matthew 27, 57- 
58. "And there came also Nicodemus." — John 19, 
39. "And Pilate marvelled if he were already 
dead." — Mark 15, 44. "His disciples came by 
night, and stole him away. . . . And this saying is 
commonly reported among the Jews until this day." 
— Matthew 28, 13-15. "I am not yet ascended to 
my Father." — John 20, 17. "Go tell my brethren 
that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see 
me." — Matthew 28, 10. "He said unto them, 
Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a 
piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And 
he took it, and did eat before them." — Luke 24, 41- 
43. "They saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid 
thereon, and bread." — John 21, 9. 



8 Preface to the Second Edition 

To this Dr. Martineau was generous enough to 
reply, in his own handwriting, as follows: 

35 Gordon Square, 

Mr. Angelo Hall, ^f "' W I G 

Dear Sir, Mar - ?> 189a. 

The hypothesis which you propound, of a swoon 
on the cross and subsequent resuscitation, to ac- 
count for the belief in the resurrection of Jesus, 
has been often advanced and discussed; and is, I 
think, prevailingly regarded as one of the least 
tenable. As it is to be found argumentatively 
treated in a copious literature of Christian Evi- 
dences, positive and negative, you must excuse me 
from reconsidering it. The method of speculative 
conjecture, so devised as to fit in with the par- 
ticulars contained in the narratives of the four 
gospels, is in itself obsolete; all critical research 
being directed, as an essential preliminary, to the 
origin, growth, and historical material of the docu- 
ments themselves. The facts cannot be sifted and 
brought to light, till the record has been made to 
tell its story. This is the work, not of inventive 
ingenuity, but of close critical study and exact 
learning; the application of which has already been 
fruitful in its results of clearer insight into the early 
history of Christianity. 

I have not time to enter into further explana- 
tions, and must ask your indulgence to my brevity. 
Yours faithfully, 

James Martineau. 



Preface to the Second Edition 



Needless to say, this epistle of James to the 
Americans is preserved among the most precious 
of my possessions. James Martineau here urges 
us to ascertain in a scholarly way the Facts About 
The Bible. 

In this second edition I add a chapter on Live 
Issues. Perhaps this will serve to satisfy such crit- 
ics as the prosperous Unitarian minister who did 
me the honor of noticing my little book publicly at 
King's Chapel, Boston, years ago. He said people 
don't want to know facts about the Bible (and 
many, I confess, do not). They want to be in- 
spired by the Bible. "The letter killeth but the 
spirit giveth life." I, too, believe this. In witness 
thereof I add the chapter on Live Issues. 

Angelo Hall. 

Annapolis, Maryland. 
October 12, 1918. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION . . 5 

I. THE BIBLE 15 

II. THE OLD TESTAMENT ....... 17 

External Evidence 17 

Internal Evidence 21 

The Books of the Law 23 

The Old Testament as a Whole .... 34 

The Two Isaiahs 38 

III. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APPLICATION OF 

THE FOREGOING FACTS TO THE 

STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT . . 40 

I. References to Magic, Witchcraft and 

Divination in the Old Testament . . 40 

II. The Song of Deborah 45 

III. The Story of Samson 47 

IV. Religious Life and Belief of David . . 50 
V. Conceptions of God and Religion in Amos . 53 

VI. The Growth of the Law 56 

IV. THE FORMATION OF THE NEW TESTA- 

MENT 71 

External Evidence 71 

Internal Evidence 78 

New Testament Epistles 88 

V. THE HISTORY OF JESUS AS PRESENTED BY 

THE STUDY OF FACTS 90 

VI. THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 97 

VII. LIVE ISSUES 109 

11 



FACTS ABOUT THE BIBLE 



FACTS ABOUT THE BIBLE 



CHAPTER I 

THE BIBLE 

THE word "Bible" is Greek for "the books." 
Our Holy Bible is a library of sacred books, 
66 in the Protestant Bible, and upwards of 70 in 
the Catholic Bible. Old Testament Books called 
by the Protestants Apocryphal, that is, unauthori- 
tative, were declared by the Catholics at the Coun- 
cil of Trent (A. D. 1546 — fourth session of the 
council) to have equal authority with the rest of 
Holy Writ. The New Testament of both Cath- 
olics and Protestants comprises 27 books. The dif- 
ference between Protestant and Catholic Old Tes- 
tament came about in this way: 

The Old Testament in Greek was the sacred 
scripture of the synagogues in Asia Minor and 
Greece where Paul and other apostles preached 
Christianity; so that before the books of the New 
Testament were collected together, the Holy Writ 

15 



1 6 Facts About the Bible 

of the early Christians was this Old Testament in 
Greek, commonly called the Septuagint. Now the 
Septuagint originated in Alexandria, Egypt, where 
there was a large Jewish population two or three 
centuries before Christ. These Alexandrian Jews, 
living among Greeks, learned to speak and to write 
the Greek language; and they caused their Holy 
Scriptures to be translated from Hebrew into 
Greek. In the course of time, the Scriptures of 
these Greek-speaking Jews came to comprise books 
— such as I and II Maccabees, Ecclesiasticus, Ju- 
dith, Tobit, the Wisdom of Solomon — not included 
in the Hebrew Old Testament. At the time of 
the Reformation the Protestants set aside these ad- 
ditional books as apocryphal, and returned to the 
Old Testament in Hebrew as the authoritative col- 
lection of sacred books. 



CHAPTER II 



THE OLD TESTAMENT 



CONSIDER the Old Testament and the New 
Testament separately. 
What do we know about the origin and history 
of the Protestant Old Testament, that is, the He- 
brew Bible? Examine first the external evidence 
— from sources outside these Hebrew books. 

External Evidence 

First, there is the Septuagint, the Greek transla- 
tion just described. It shows many interesting 
things in regard to the ancient Hebrew books. For 
instance, there are passages in the Greek transla- 
tion which do not appear in the Hebrew. Thus 
in I Samuel, chap. II, there are half a dozen lines 
in the Greek version of Hannah's song not to be 
found in the Hebrew. So with Daniel, chap. III. 
On the other hand, the Greek book of Jeremiah is 
one-eighth shorter than the Hebrew Jeremiah. 
There are, as would be expected, many discrepan- 

17 



1 8 Facts About the Bible 

cies between Greek and Hebrew readings through- 
out the Old Testament, and obscurities of the one 
text are often explained by reference to the other. 
Secondly, there is the great flood of light shed 
upon Biblical matters by recent discoveries in an- 
cient Mesopotamia. When the children of Israel 
were wandering in the wilderness, the people of 
Mesopotamia were enjoying a state of civilization 
many centuries old. Statements in the books of 
Kings regarding the Hebrew kingdom are corrobo- 
rated by monuments and records found in Mesopo- 
tamia. Thus Jehu, who reigned about 840 B. C. 
(see II Kings, chaps. IX and X), is represented 
on an Assyrian monument as paying tribute to As- 
syria. Sennacherib, the Assyrian, has left us writ- 
ings describing how he shut King Hezekiah up in 
Jerusalem like a bird in his cage. (See II Kings 18: 
13 fol.) Again, many Old Testament stories ap- 
pear to come from Mesopotamia, as they are found 
recorded on clay tablets which once belonged to 
the libraries of Assyrian monarchs. (See George 
Smith's "Chaldean Account of Genesis.") Such is 
the case with the story of the flood and Noah's 
ark. Seven was a sacred number with the Mesopo- 
tamians, and very likely the Hebrew seven-pronged 
candlesticks derive their mystic meaning from some 
such idea. (See Exodus 25 : 31-37.) In Isaiah 27 : 



The Old Testament 19 

1, Amos 9:3, and Job 26: 13 are references to a 
Babylonian myth about a great serpent. 

Thirdly, the study of the religion of Semitic na- 
tions in general, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Arabians, 
etc., throws a flood of light upon early Hebrew re- 
ligion. (See W. Robertson Smith's famous work 
on "The Religion of the Semites.") For example, 
we find in the Old Testament reference to Jehovah 
as a tribe God, just as Chemosh was the tribe God 
of the Ammonites. (Judges 11 : 21-24.) Laws re- 
garding unclean animals (Leviticus 11) correspond 
with the general custom of taboo. Early Hebrews 
wore nose-rings. (See Gen. 24: 47 and Isai. 3: 21.) 
The sacredness of a Nazarite's hair (Judges 13:5 
and I Sam. 1 : 11, and Numbers 6:5), holy ground 
(Exodus 3:5), etc., are general Semitic ideas, not 
peculiar to the Israelites. It should be remembered 
that the Israelites were much like their neighbors, 
given to the worship of local deities (Hosea 2: 13, 
and 4: 13), believing in angels (Judges VI and 
XIII) and witches (I Samuel 28). So that the 
study of general Semitic religious thought helps a 
great deal in the proper understanding of the Old 
Testament. 

As the last source of external evidence, we have 
to consider direct testimony. The apocryphal book 
of the Old Testament Ecclesiasticus is the oldest 



20 Facts About the Bible 

witness. It says (see the prologue of Eccles.) that 
the grandfather of Jesus the son of Sirach wrote 
the book (about 185 B. C). Now chap. 44 and 
following of this book mention incidents re- 
corded in the books of the Law and the Prophets 
of the Hebrew Bible. Now the Hebrew Bible 
has three divisions, the Law (know to us as the 
Pentateuch, being Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 
Numbers and Deuteronomy), the Prophets (includ- 
ing historical writings as well as the books of proph- 
ets), and the Writings (Psalms, Job, etc.). Jesus 
son of Sirach in his preface to Ecclesiasticus men- 
tions the Law and the Prophets and "other [or, 
perhaps, "the other] books of our fathers." This 
evidence seems to indicate that in 185 B. C. the 
books of the Law and the Prophets were in their 
present shape, while the books of the Writings had 
not been definitely selected and arranged. Other 
evidence corroborates this view, for at councils of 
Jews as late as the second century A. D. the ques- 
tion of retaining certain books of the Writings as 
Holy Writ (for example, Esther) was hotly dis- 
cussed. 

The name given to Hebrew Scripture by New 
Testament writers is usually "the Law and the 
Prophets" or "the Law." (See Math. 5: 17, 11: 
13, 22:40, John 1:45, Acts 5:34, etc., etc., etc.) 



The Old Testament 21 

In Luke 24:44 it is "the Law of Moses and the 
Prophets and the Psalms." 

Internal Evidence 

For details concerning the Old Testament we are 
thrown back upon the internal evidence of the 
books. 

At first let us notice a piece of internal evidence 
which fits in with what has just been said in regard 
to the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible. After 
the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon, 
Ezra, who was a "ready scribe in the law of 
Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had 
given" (see Ezra 7:6), went to Jerusalem (about 
450 B. C), and there with the help of the patriotic 
Nehemiah set up a theocratic government based 
upon "the book of the law of Moses." (See Nehe- 
miah 8 : 1 fol. and compare Ezra 3 : 2 and Ezra 
7:6.) This book must have contained things found 
in the book of Deuteronomy (compare Neh. 13: 1 
and 2 with Deut. 23:3 and 4), and in Leviticus 
(compare Neh. 8:14-18 with Lev. 23:39 fol.). 
And it probably contained things found in the re- 
maining books of the Pentateuch (see Neh. 9:6 
fol., 9 : 9 fol., and 9 : 22 fol., with which last com- 
pare Numbers 21 : 21 fol.). So it is generally con- 



22 Facts About the Bible 

ceded that the Pentateuch, that is, the five books 
of the Law, which in after years, before the com- 
ing of Christ, became the especial object of venera- 
tion with pious Jews, was this "book of the law of 
Moses" read to the people by Ezra, and used as 
the foundation of the re-established government at 
Jerusalem. The collection of prophetic books seems 
not to have been completed as yet. Indeed, the 
prophets Haggai and Zechariah were among the 
returned exiles ( Ezra 5:1). Ezekiel had written 
while in exile, and Jeremiah just before the down- 
fall of the old Jerusalem and during the downfall. 

To sum up, then, of the three divisions of the 
Hebrew Bible, 

(1) The Writings had not been definitely se- 
lected and arranged in 185 B. C. Indeed, several 
of the Psalms are supposed to have been written 
after this date, when the patriotic Maccabees were 
struggling against the Greeks (about 165 B. C). 
For instance, compare Psalm 79 with 1 Maccabees 
7: 16 and 17 and 1 : 24. 

(2) On the other hand, in 185 B. C. the Law 
and the Prophets were in substantially their present 
shape. 



The Old Testament 23 

(3) Finally, in 450 B. C. the Law was extant, 
but the Prophets and the Writings had not yet been 
compiled. 

The Books of the Law 

The next step would be to trace out the origin 
of the Law, or the Pentateuch, as it is called. A 
popular notion among uneducated people is that 
Moses wrote the Pentateuch. Indeed, many of the 
laws given in these five books are therein attributed 
to Moses, the Law-giver; so that it is no wonder 
that the Jews of Christ's time (450 years after 
Ezra had quoted Moses as an authority for the laws 
of the new state) spoke of the Pentateuch as the 
Law of Moses. (See John 1 : 45.) But the events 
described in Genesis are said to have happened cen- 
turies before Moses was born; and at the close of 
the last book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy, is 
an account of the death and burial of Moses. In 
Numbers 21:14 a book called "the book of the 
Wars of the Lord," by an unknown author, is 
directly quoted from. Nearly a thousand years had 
elapsed since the death of Moses when Ezra the 
scribe read the Pentateuch to the people. In these 
days we should question very carefully the author- 
ship of a manuscript written in the year 900 A. D. 

While many laws of the Pentateuch are attrib- 



24 Facts About the Bible 

uted to Moses by the Pentateuch itself, it is evident 
that Moses is not the author of all five books as 
we have them. 

Who then did write the Pentateuch, the law of 
Moses? This question has engaged the attention 
of the wisest scholars for two centuries, and it will 
probably never be answered satisfactorily. But 
about a century and a half ago, Jean Astruc, a cele- 
brated French physician, hit upon a clue to the 
solution of the question. Modern criticism of the 
Old Testament may be said to date from his work, 
1753 A. D. 

Churchmen in regular standing in England ac- 
cept the results of this criticism, and have written 
books based upon it. For example, "An Introduc- 
tion to the Literature of the Old Testament," by 
S. R. Driver, D. D., Regius Professor of Hebrew 
and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford; and "The 
Canon of the Old Testament, an Essay on the 
gradual Growth and Formation of the Hebrew 
Canon of Scripture," by Herbert Edward Ryle, 
B. D., Hulsean Professor of Divinity, Professorial 
Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and examin- 
ing chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Ripon. 

Dr. Driver says in the preface to his work, dated 
June 18, 1891 : 



The Old Testament 25 

"Criticism in the hands of Christian scholars 
does not banish or destroy the inspiration of the 
Old Testament; it presupposes it; it seeks only to 
determine the conditions under which it operates, 
and the literary forms through which it manifests 
itself; and it thus helps us to frame truer concep- 
tions of the methods which it has pleased God to 
employ in revealing Himself to His Ancient peo- 
ple of Israel, and in preparing the way for the 
fuller manifestation of Himself in Christ Jesus." 

Driver might have added that there are evidently 
many literary errors in the Old Testament, due to 
human carelessness, not to speak of such vicious 
stories as that of Lot and his daughters and Judah 
and his sons (like idle tales in Homer, too ancient 
to be credited). For example, on what theory of 
literal inspiration are we to account for such repeti- 
tions as: 

Ps. 14, repeated in Ps. 53. 

II Chron. 36:22-23, " Ezra 1:1-3. 

Jer. 49: 14-16, " " Obad. 1-4. 

II Ki. 24: 18-25:21, " Jer. 52:1-27 

II Kings 18: 13-20: 19, " Isai. 36-39. 

To resume, scholars think they have discovered 
that in the book of Genesis there is a combination 
of three narratives, woven together: one a record 
of the beginning of things and a list of genealogies ; 



26 Facts About the Bible 

one in which the name of God is Elohim (a He- 
brew word translated "God") ; and one in which 
the name is Jahweh (a Hebrew word translated 
"Lord"). After separating the first narrative (des- 
ignated by the letter P) from the whole, these two 
words are the key words with which to unravel the 
one of the remaining narratives from the other. 
For short, the one of these narratives is designated 
by the letter E, the other by J. To quote Driver 
(page 12) "E first appears in the story of Abra- 
ham." 

Driver gives the following analysis of Genesis: 

P* = 1 : 1 — 2 : 4 a (that is, through first part of 
2:4) +5: 1 — 28 and 30 — 32 + 6:9 — 22 + 
7:6 and 11 and 13 — i6 a and 18 — 21 and 
24 -J- 8: 1 — 2 a and 3 b — 5 and 13 s1 and 14 — 

19 + 9:1 — 17 ana * 2 8 an d 29 + 10:1 — 7 and 

20 and 22 and 23 and 31 and 32 + 11: 10 — 26 
and 27 and 31 and 32 + I2:4 b and 5 + 13:6 and 
ii b and I2 a + 16: i a and 3 and 15 and 16 + 17 
(entire) + 19: 29 + 21 : i b and 2 b — 5 + 23 (en- 
tire) +25: 7 — n a and 12 — 17 and 19 and 20 
and 26 b + 26:34 — 35 + 27: 46 — 28:9+ 29:24 
and 29 + 31: i8 b + 33: i8 a +34:1 — 2 a and 4 
and 6 and 8 — 10 and 13 — 18 and 20 — 24 and 
25 partly and 27 — 29 + 35:9 — 13 and 15 and 
22 b — 29+ chapter 36 (in the main) +37:1 — 
2 a + 41 : 46 + 46 : 6 — 27 + 47 : 5 — 6 a and 7 — 

* Compare the beginning of I Chronicles. 



The Old Testament 2 J 

1 1 and 27 b and 28 + 48 : 3 — 6 and 7 ( ?) + 49 : l * 
and 28 b — 33 + 50: 12 — 13. (See Driver pp. 9 
and 10.) 

P being eliminated, the book is further analyzed 
thus: 

I. CHAPTERS 1— 11 THE BEGINNINGS 
OF HISTORY 

J = 2:4 b f — 3:24, 4:1— 26, 5:29, 6:1—8, 
7:1 — 5 and 7 — 10 (in the main) and 12 and 
i6 b and 17 and 22 and 23, 8: 2 b and 3 a and 6 — 12 
and 13 15 and 20 — 22, 9: 18 — 27, 10: 8 — 19 and 
21 and 24 — 30, 1 1 : 1 — 9 and 28 — 30. 

II. CHAPTERS 12—26 ABRAHAM AND 

ISAAC 

J =12: 1 — 4 a and 6 — 20, 13:1 — 5 and 

7 — n a and I2 b — 18. 
E = chapter 15. 

J=i6:i b — 14 (except verse 3), 18:1 — 

19:28 and 30 — 33. 
E = 20: 1 — 17. 

f J = 21 : 1 and 2 (in part) and 33, 22 : 15 — 
J 18 and 20 — 24. 

E = 21 :6 — 21, 21:22 — 32 a , 22:1 — 14 
and 19. 

t "2 : 4 b ," that is, the last part of verse 4, as 3 a means 
the first part of verse 3. 



28 Facts About the Bible 

' J = 24 (entire), 25:1 — 6 and n b and 18 
and 21 — 26 s and 27 — 34, 26:1 — 14 
and 16 and 17 and 19 — 33. 

III. CHAPTERS 27—36 JACOB AND ESAU 

' J = 27: I — 45, 28: 10 and 13 — 16 and 19, 
29: 2 — 14. 
E = 28: 11 and 12 and 17 and 18 and 20 — 
22, 29: 1. 

J* = 29: 31 — 35, 30: 3 b — 5 and 7 and 9 — 

16 and 20 b . 
E = 29:i5 — 23 and 25 — 28 and 30, 

30:1 — 3 a and 6 and 8 and 17 — 20*. 

J = 30:24 — 31: 1, 31:3 and 46 and 48 — 

50. 
E = 3o:20 c — 23, 31:2 and 4 — 45 (except 

i8 b ) and 47. 

J = 32:3 — 13 s and 22 and 24 — 32, 

33: 1 — 17. 
E = 31: 51— 32:2, 32:i3 b — 21 and 23, 
33:i8 b — 20. 

J = 34:2 b — 3 and 5 and 7 and 11 and 12 

and 19. 
E = 35 : 1 — 8 and 16 — 20. 

/ J = 34: 25 (partly )and 26 and 30 and 31, 
\ 35: 14 and 21 and 22 a . 

* See the passage in the Bible. This bit of analysis 
appears absurd. 



The Old Testament 29 

IV. CHAPTERS 37—5o JOSEPH 

J = 37: 12 — 21 and 25 — 27 and 28 b and 

31—35. 
E = 37:2 b — 11 and 22 — 24 and 28 a and 
28 c — 30 and 36. 

J — chapter 38 and chapters 39, 42:38 — 

44:34 (with traces of E). 
E = chapters 40 (with traces of J), 41 : 1 — 

45 (with traces of J). 

J = 46 : 28 — 47 : 4, 47 : 6 b and 12 — 26 and 

27 a and 29 — 31. 
E = 4i:47 — 57, 42:1—37, 45:1—46:5 

(with traces of J). 

J = 49:i b — 28 a , 50:1 — 11 and 14. 
E = 48 : 1 and 2 and in the main 8 — 22, 
50:15 — 26. 

(From Driver pp. 12 — 16.) 

Investigating this question, Driver says (pp. 
6-8) : "As soon as the book [of Genesis] is studied 
with sufficient attention, phenomena disclose them- 
selves which show incontrovertibly that it is com- 
posed of distinct documents or sources, which have 
been welded together by a later compiler or redactor 
into a continuous whole. These phenomena are 
very numerous; but they may be reduced in the 
main to the two following heads: (1) the same 
event is doubly recorded; (2) the language, and 
frequently the representation as well, varies in dif- 



30 Facts About the Bible 

ferent sections. Thus 1 : 1-2: 4 a and 2: 4 b -25 con- 
tain a double narrative of the origin of man upon 
earth. It might, no doubt, be argued prima facie 
that 2 : 4 b ff . is intended simply as a more detailed 
account of what is described summarily in 1 : 26-30 ; 
and it is true that probably the present position of 
this section is due to the relation in which, speaking 
generally, it stands to the narrative of those verses, 
but upon closer examination differences reveal them- 
selves which preclude the supposition that both sec- 
tions are the work of the same hand. In 2 : 4 b ff. 
the order of creation is: 1, man (v. 7); 2, vege- 
tation (v. 9; cf. v. 5); 3, animals (v. 19); 4, 
woman (v. 21 f.). The separation made between 
the creation of woman and man, if it stood alone, 
might indeed be reasonably explained upon the sup- 
position just referred to, that 2: 4 b ff. viz. describes 
in detail what is stated succinctly in i:27 b ; Dut 
the order in the other cases forms part of a progres- 
sion that is evidently intentional on the part of the 
narrator here, and as evidently opposed to the order 
in chapter I (vegetation, animals, man). Not only, 
however, are there these material differences be- 
tween the two narratives; they differ also in form. 
The style of 1: 1-2 :4 s1 is unornate, measured, pre- 
cise, and particular phrases frequently recur. That 
of 2 : 4 b if. is freer and more varied ; the actions 



The Old Testament 31 

of God are described with some fulness and pictur- 
esqueness of detail; instead of simply speaking or 
creating, as in chapter I, He fashions, breathes into 
man the breath of life, plants, places, takes, sets, 
brings, closes up, builds, etc., (2:7* 8, I5> I9> 21, 
22), and even, in the allied chapter 3 (v. 8) walks 
in the garden : the recurring phrases are less marked, 
and not the same as those of 1 : 1-2 : 4 a . In the nar- 
rative of the Deluge, 6:9-13 (the wickedness of 
the earth) is a duplicate of 6: 5-8, as is also 7:1-5 of 
6: 18-22 — the latter, with the difference that of 
every clean beast seven are to be taken into the ark, 
while in 6: 19 (cf. 7: 15) two of every sort, with- 
out distinction, are prescribed ; similarly 7 : 22 f. 
(destruction of all flesh) repeats the substance of 
7:21; there are also accompanying differences of 
representation and phraseology, one group of sec- 
tions being akin to i:i-2:4 a and displaying 
throughout the same phraseology, the other ex- 
hibiting a different phraseology, and being conceived 
in the spirit of 2:4^-3:24 (compare for example 
7: i6 b shut in 8: 21 smelled, with 2:7, 8, 15, etc.). 
17: 16-19 and 18: 10-14 the promise of a son to 
Sarah is twice described, with an accompanying 
double explanation of the origin of the name Isaac*. 

* "There is a third explanation, from a third source 
in 21:6." 



32 Facts About the Bible 

The section 27: 46-28: 9 differs appreciably in style 
from 27: 1-45, and at the same time exhibits Re- 
bekah as influenced by a different motive in sug- 
gesting Jacob's departure from Canaan, not as in 
27 : 42-45 to escape his brother's anger, but to pro- 
cure a wife agreeable to his parents' wishes (see 
26: 34 f.). Further, in 28: 19 and 35: 15 we find 
two explanations of the origin of the name Bethel; 
32:28: and 35:10 two of Israel; 32:3, 33:16 
Esau is described as already resident in Edom, while 
36: 6 f. his migration thither is attributed to causes 
which could only have come into operation after 
Jacob's return to Canaan." 

The same analysis applies to the Pentateuch in 
general, and to the book of Joshua also. But many 
more elements besides P, J and E enter into com- 
position. Leviticus is almost entirely devoted to 
giving codes of priestly laws. Deuteronomy stands 
by itself, being substantially the product of a single 
author, as it appears. Even in regard to the book 
of Genesis, Driver says (p. 8) : 

"The Book of Genesis presents a group of sec- 
tions distinguished from the narrative on either 
side of them by differences of phraseology and style, 
and often by concomitant differences of representa- 
tion: these differences, moreover, are not isolated, 
nor do they occur in the narrative indiscriminately: 



The Old Testament 33 

they are numerous, and reappear with singular per- 
sistency in combination with each other; they are, 
in a word, so marked that they can only be ac- 
counted for upon the supposition that the sections 
in which they occur are by a different hand from 
the rest of the book." 

It next remains to determine, or to guess as well 
as possible, the probable origin of the narratives P, 
J and E. To do this it is necessary to trace the 
growth of Hebrew culture as shown in the history 
of the people. The conclusion of scholars is that 
all the narratives P, J and E were composed cen- 
turies after Moses died, and long after the times 
of King David. 

No tloubt this date for the Pentateuch is about 
right. But as for the analysis of the books into 
separate "narratives" and sources of information, 
the whole subject is in hopeless confusion. It is 
assumed that Jahweh, the name of the early na- 
tional deity of the people of Israel, characterizes 
one narrative, and that Elohim, a more general 
name for the deity, characterizes another. Whether 
this assumption is borne out by the facts is a mat- 
ter that no common man can decide. For my own 
part, I doubt if its application to the book of Gene- 
sis can appear satisfactory to the reader of this 
treatise. To my mind, the only book in the Penta- 



34 Facts About the Bible 

teuch which has been satisfactorily accounted for is 
the book of Deuteronomy, of which I shall speak 
later. 

The Old Testament as a Whole 

The safest way in which to deal with the internal 
evidence of the Old Testament, it seems to me, is 
to see what history it contains. Beginning with 
the book of Judges, nobody will dispute the general 
accuracy of the history of the Jews presented 
therein from the times of Joshua down to the times 
of Ezra and Nehemiah — a period of nearly a thou- 
sand years. Due allowance is to be made, of course, 
for the admixture of legendary matter. Beginning 
with the book of Judges and continuing through 
I and II Samuel and I and II Kings the narra- 
tive proceeds from the conquest of Canaan to the 
fall of Jerusalem (586 B. C.) ; and it is corrobo- 
rated by the Prophets, Amos (about 750 B. C), 
Hosea (about 740 B. C), Jeremiah (625-585 
B. C), Ezekiel (about 595-560 B. C), Zephaniah, 
Nahum, etc. In I and II Chronicles, Ezra and 
Nehemiah is a repetition of this history, extended 
to the times of Ezra and Nehemiah and corrobo- 
rated by Haggai and Zechariah. Thus, most of the 
Bible (excepting literary books like Job, Psalms 



The Old Testament 35 

and Proverbs) is accounted for at once, to be ac- 
cepted at face value like the history of Greece 
from the siege of Troy to the conquest by Rome 
(146 B. C.) 

Of the conquest of Canaan there are two ac- 
counts, one in the book of Joshua (which scholars 
class with the Pentateuch as a late production) and 
one in the book of Judges. In Joshua we find the 
famous statement about the sun's standing still* 
(chap. X: 13) and the story of the miraculous fall 
of the walls of Jericho by the blowing of trumpets. 
Canaan is conquered in short order by the hero 
Joshua. Evidently this is a romance. The other 
account of the conquest of Canaan, in the books 
of Judges and I and II Samuel, appears to be 
the historical one. Here the conquest is gradual, 
attended with great perils and set-backs, and occu- 
pying several generations of men. In Judges and 
the books of Samuel, moreover, we find folk-lore 
and national songs (cf. Judges 5 ; II Sam. 1 : 19-27) 
of an early period. 

After the days of local chieftains (called 
"Judges") came Samuel and Saul and David, 
clearly-cut historical personages. Then, under 

* Copied, by the way, from "the book of Jashar," 
which must have perished long ago. See Josh. 10: 13 
and cf. II Sam. 1: 18. 



36 Facts About the Bible 

David, the Israelites unite into one firmly-knit king- 
dom (about iooo B. C). Under Rehoboam, Solo- 
mon's son, the kingdom was disrupted into two 
kingdoms — Israel and Judah. Through the books 
of Kings the history of both kingdoms is traced 
down in regular order to the captivity of the 
Northern Kingdom in 722 B. C. (date fixed by 
Assyrian records) and the fall of Jerusalem in 586 
B. C. In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah the 
history is continued to the restoration of Jerusalem 
and the Jewish worship (about 450 B. C). 

Thus we are brought back again to the problem 
of the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua, for these 
are about the only books of the Old Testament 
remaining that need any explanation. In them the 
ancient history of the Jews is related (for many 
centuries before they had a settled government), 
and that history is carried back to the beginning of 
the world. No other nation ever made a history 
of this sort which has ever been accepted as fact by 
rational minds. Just how this Jewish history was 
constructed and what truth it contains we can 
never know fully. The decalogue in Exodus 20, 
and the laws of the three succeeding chapters, evi- 
dently (internal evidence) come down from early 
times. Moses is constantly referred to as the great 
law-giver ; but we can hardly believe that the elabo- 



The Old Testament 37 

rate description of the furniture and ritual in the 
tabernacle of Jehovah given in Exodus 25-30 and 
repeated at length in the last chapters of the book 
came down word by word from the lips of Moses. 
He must have had more important business to at- 
tend to. This is to say nothing of the account in 
the book of Exodus of the passage of the Red Sea 
and the plagues inflicted upon Pharaoh's people — 
evidently national legends like those to be found 
in Greek and Latin traditions. The books of Num- 
bers and Leviticus are full of laws which we shall 
glance at later. 

Concerning the book of Deuteronomy there is a 
most interesting theory. It is believed to be the 
book the discovery of which is described in II Kings 
22:8-11, and upon which King Josiah (about 620 
B. C.) based the reforms described in II Kings 
23:1-24. These reforms came under two heads: 
(1) Suppression of heathen worship, and (2) Cen- 
tralization of the worship of Jehovah, that is, wor- 
ship at Jerusalem and suppression of local shrines 
(such as those permitted by the law of Ex. 20: 
24-26, and referred to by Amos and Hosea as at 
Bethel, Gilgal, Beersheba and Samaria, Amos 4:4, 
5:5, 7:10, Hos. 4:15, 8:6, etc.). These two 
heads are covered by Deuteronomy, chapters 12-26, 
as follows: Deut. 12:1-3, 12:4-31, 16:21-22, 



38 Facts About the Bible 

18:10-12, 23:18, 14:23, 15:20, 16:2, 18:6-8, 
16: 1, 16: 5 fol. 

As to the introductory and concluding chapters 
of Deuteronomy, scholars are in doubt; but chap- 
ters 12-26 they believe to be included in the book 
discovered in 621 B. C. by the priest Hilkiah and 
presented to Josiah, as related in II Kings 22. It 
may have been written, scholars think, twenty-five 
years or so before its discovery, but not many years 
earlier; for it forbids the ancient custom of local 
worship of Jehovah, which was never forbidden be- 
fore the time of Josiah — unless in the reign of 
Hezekiah, (see II Kings 18:4, the phrase "high 
places"). It looks as if the book were written for 
political as well as for religious effect, and presented 
to the young King Josiah (25 years old) by design- 
ing priests. 

The Two Isaiahs 

There is one more question as to the Old Testa- 
ment books which might be mentioned before I go 
on to give illustrations of the application of the 
foregoing reasoning to the scholarly study of the 
Old Testament. This is in regard to the long book 
of Isaiah. 

It is evident that there were at least two authors 
of Isaiah. The book is broken in two at the for- 



The Old Testament 39 

tieth chapter. One Isaiah lived in the 8th century 
B. C, in the reign of Hezekiah. (See Isai. i: i.) 
Another author lived in the 6th century B. C, in 
the time of Cyrus the Great. (See Isai. 45: 1.) 
Again, the "virgin" who was to conceive and bear 
a son (Isaiah 7:14) is simply Septuagint Greek 
for a Hebrew word meaning "young woman", and 
is the mother mentioned in the next chapter, Isai. 
8: 3 {not, — as supposed by the early Christian who 
wrote Matt. 1 : 23, quoted from his Greek Septua- 
gint, — the mother of Jesus of Nazareth). The 
person referred to in chapters 49 and 53, and 
thought to be Christ, seems to rational scholars an 
impersonation of the exiled nation of Israel (cf. 
Isai. 44: 1 and 2), about to be restored to Jeru- 
salem by the great Cyrus (Isai. 44:28). 



CHAPTER III 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APPLICATION OF THE 

FOREGOING FACTS TO THE STUDY OF THE 

OLD TESTAMENT 

I. References to Magic, Witchcraft and 
Divination in the Old Testament 

MAGjIC as distinct from) enchantments and 
witchcraft seems to have been but little prac- 
ticed by the Hebrews. The magic attributed to 
Aaron in Exodus 7 and 8 may have come from 
eastern practices in the mind of the narrator. 
Snake-charming is alluded to in Jeremiah (8: 17.) 
As witchcraft and divination are the outgrowth 
of the same feeling as that which regards dreams 
as supernatural, a word as to dreams: Divination 
from dreams is recognized as legitimate (see Num- 
bers 12:6) from the time of the book of Daniel 
(written, as is supposed, about 170 B. C.) back 
through that of Job (see Job 4: 13, 7: 14, 33: 15) 
to the time of Solomon (I Kings 3:5) and of 
Saul (I Sam. 28:6.) Compare the visions in the 

40 



Study of the Old Testament 41 

books of Daniel and Ezekiel. In Micah (3:5-7) 
"ye shall have no vision" is spoken of as a national 
calamity. In Joel we have Jehovah's promise that 
through the outpouring of his spirit "your old men 
shall dream dreams," "your young men shall see 
visions." Deuteronomy 13: 1 fol. warns the people 
against the dreams of false prophets. Compare Jer. 
14: 14, 23: 25, 29: 8-9; Ezekiel 13: 6, 22: 28; and 
Zech. 10:2. 

Next, before considering witchcraft, etc., among 
the Hebrews, it is well to recollect that they were 
surrounded by superstitious nations — the Philistines 
(I Sam. 6:2), Moabites, Edomites and Phoeni- 
cians (Jer. 27:9 and 10), Egyptians (Isai. 19:3), 
Babylonians (Ezek. 21:21 fol. — with which com- 
pare Isai. 47:12 and 13). Jeremiah warns his 
people against the way of the nations (Jer. 10:2) 
and Deuteronomy says (18: 12) "because of these 
abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them 
out from before thee." 

Therefore, passing to the Hebrews, we may ex- 
pect to find many of them, in the words of Isaiah 
(2:6), "filled with magic" and that they "are 
sooth-sayers like the Philistines." That divination 
by signs was common among the early Hebrews is 
shown by such incidents as that of Gideon's fleece 
(Jud. 6:37) and the sound of marching in the 



42 Facts About the Bible 

tops of the mulberry trees (II Sam. 5:24). Com- 
pare I Sam. 14:9 and 10:9. Witchcraft, too, was 
practised in early days. But this practice is also 
early disapproved of — Saul, probably under the in- 
fluence of Samuel, put away "those that had fa- 
miliar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land." 
(I Sam. 28:3.) According to the early law of 
Exodus 22 : 1 8 a sorceress should not be permitted 
to live. Jezebel, however, among her many whore- 
doms, practiced witchcraft (II Kings 9:22). So 
did as late a king as Manasseh (II Kings 21:6). 
Micah (5:12) speaks of witchcrafts. And when 
King Josiah made his reforms he found wizards 
and "them that had familiar spirits." (II Kings 
23:24). Even as late as the codification of the 
Law of Holiness (Lev. chaps. 17-26, codified prob- 
ably about 550 B. C.) we find the warning: "Turn 
ye not unto them that have familiar spirits, nor 
unto the wizards." (Lev. 19:31). But the 
severity of the punishment of such transgression (to 
be cut off from among the people, Lev. 20: 6), and 
the law of stoning witches and wizards to death 
(Lev. 20:27) suggest that witchcraft had been 
nearly stamped out at this time. 

Manasseh "made his son to pass through the fire, 
and practiced augury, and used enchantments, and 
dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with 



Study of the Old Testament 43 

wizards." (II Kings 21 : 6). Compare the paral- 
lel passage in Deuteronomy 18: 10 and 11. Also 
II Kings 17: 17. It is only natural that witchcraft 
should be connected closely with all sorts of super- 
stition. The law "ye shall not eat anything with 
the blood: neither shall ye use enchantments, nor 
practice augury" (Lev. 19:26) stands close to the 
prohibition of witchcraft (Lev. 19:31.) 

An examination of the passages cited indicates 
that most of the superstition of the Old Testa- 
ment turns about divination, whether by witches 
or dreamers. The most remarkable thing in the 
story of the witch of Endor seems to be this passage : 

"I see Elohim [a Hebrew word meaning 'a god' 
or 'gods'] coming up out of the earth." (See I 
Sam. 28: 13 and compare Isai. 29:4; "thy speech 
shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall 
be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the 
ground"). This points to the custom of necrom- 
ancy, noticed in Deut. 18: 1 1, and brought out in 
Isai. 8: 19 — "on behalf of the living should they 
seek unto the dead?" Thus the Hebrews of early 
days appear to have invoked the spirits of the 
dead up from the under-world, and these spirits 
were regarded as Elohim. In early times, before 
any definite form of religion was established, revela- 
tion was sought from any source. The very king 



44 Facts About the Bible 

who at one moment banishes witches, at the next 
moment seeks them. (See I Sam. 28). Despite 
the early law in Exodus 22:18, witchcraft is prac- 
ticed in Jerusalem till the time of Josiah (II Kings 
23:24). Ezekiel describes the abominations of 
the chambers of imagery (Ezek. 8). Even when 
the Law of Holiness was codified some traces of 
such things remained. 

With the growth of religion the indiscriminate 
resorting to Elohim was more and more discoun- 
tenanced. Mental vision took the place of me- 
chanical enchantment. The prophets protested 
against superstition. Ezekiel says: "ye shall no 
more see vanity, nor divine divinations: and I will 
deliver my people out of your hand; and ye shall 
know that I am the Lord." (13:23 and compare 
verse 18). Isaiah 44:24 and 25 says: "I am the 
Lord . . . that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, 
and maketh diviners mad." Compare also the Law 
of Holiness, Lev. 19:31: "seek them [witches and 
wizards] not out, to be defiled by them: I am the 
Lord your God." Isai. 8: 19 and 20 says: "when 
they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have 
familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp 
and that mutter: should not a people seek unto 
their God? on behalf of the living should they 



Study of the Old Testament 45 

seek unto the dead? To the Law and to the testi- 
mony!" 

II. The Song of Deborah (Judges Chap. 5). 

This is probably one of the oldest pieces of writ- 
ing in the Bible. All national literatures are apt 
to begin with ballads or songs about national heroes. 
The text of Judges chap. 5 is very old, and is cor- 
rupted: for example, in verse 5, "Even yon Sinai" 
is probably a note added by a comparatively late 
scribe. 

The chief point to notice is that Jahweh (trans- 
lated "Lord"), in this early bit of literature, is 
already recognized as the God of Israel. See verses 
3 and 5. But that Jahweh was not yet thought of 
as being so powerful as he is represented to be by 
the later author of Judges, chap. 4., where (verse 
6) he takes the initiative and (verses 15 and 23) 
discomfits Sisera before the children of Israel, is 
shown by chap. 5: 7 (Deborah takes the initiative 
herself) and by chap. S :2 3 ^nd 31 (Jahweh has 
enemies against whom he needs help). But even 
in the early days he was thought of as being a 
terrible God, withal: for the earth trembled, the 
clouds dropped water, and the mountains flowed 



46 Facts About the Bible 

down at his presence. As terrible as Olympian 
Zeus! It is hard to think that Israel's adoption of 
"a great variety of shrines and images" meant a 
higher worship than this of the mountain God. 
(But compare Schultz's Old Testament Theology 
vol. 1, p. 207). 

Piepenbring remarks (Theol. Old Test., p. 120) : 
"The metaphysical attribute that takes place of all 
others, and is most frequently mentioned in the 
Old Testament is the power of God." This is at- 
tested by the mention of the early book of the 
"Wars of Jahweh" in Numbers 21:14, by the 
martial song of Exodus 15, and by this song of 
Deborah. 

In verse 23 the angel of Jahweh bids the people 
curse the inhabitants of Meroz "because they came 
not to the help of the Lord." But the revolting 
cruelty of Hebrew fiction, such as one meets in 
Joshua 6:21, 7:25, 8:26, is shown by the spirit 
of Deborah's song to be imaginary rather than real. 
Jahweh is a powerful god of war, but his people 
are not mere savages. "So let all thine enemies 
perish, O Lord: But let them that love him be as 
the sun when he goeth forth in his might." The 
ethics of Jahweh's people are severe but not alto- 
gether brutal. "Blessed above women shall Jael 
be" — the woman who treacherously slew Sisera: 



Study of the Old Testament 47 

but observe, it is a woman who is to be blessed. 
Hannah Duston, who slew her sleeping captors 
with a tomahawk, has a monument to her memory 
in Haverhill, Mass. Among the princes (verse 
15) and governors (verse 9) and nobles (verse 
13) of the ten tribes which are mentioned in the 
song, stands Deborah, a mother* in Israel, a leader 
of the people, the equal of Barak. Such recognition 
of women in the early history of a nation argues 
well for national ethics. 

III. The Story of Samson 

"The story of Samson (Judges XIII-XVI) is 
so full of legend that it is hard to extract history 
from it. Some writers suppose that it is all a 
sun-myth, like the story of Hercules. It is pos- 
sible that it is a mixture of history, legend and 
myth." (Toy's Religion of Israel, p. 30.) Con- 
rad Schwenck in "Die Mythologie der Semiten" 
(*855) pp. 277 and 278, shows how the Canaanitish 
Moloch, called by the Tyrians Melcart, came over 
under this name to Greece and "became so woven 
into the stories of Hercules that he passed as the 

* That Deborah was a "prophetess" (Judges chap. 
4:4 and 5) may be the fiction of a later day. If a 
prophetess, she was doubtless like Samuel, a seer. 
(See I Samuel 9:9). 



48 Facts About the Bible 

Tyrian Hercules." Professor Moore of Andover, 
in his late Commentary on the Book of Judges, 
pp. 364 and 365, says that in view of Samson's 
nearness to Beth-Shemesh (the name of the place 
is Hebrew for "house of the Sun") his name may 
perhaps be etymologically "sun-worshipper." Per- 
haps this meant the worshipper of Moloch. 

But whatever be the most probable view of the 
sun-myth theory, the story of Samson affords some 
glimpses into primitive Hebrew religion. As re« 
gards the angel of Jahweh appearing in the shape 
of a man (Judges 13: 3) we have only to compare 
Judges chap. 6:12 fol., Gen. 18:2 fol., Josh. 5: 
13 fol., to see that the idea was common among the 
early Hebrews. That his appearance is "terrible" 
(Judges 13:6) is corroborated in Joshua's vision 
of the captain of the Lord's host with his drawn 
sword. Indeed, the early belief seems to have been 
that to behold such a divine apparition meant death. 
(Judges 6:22; and 13:22). 

In both the Gideon and the Samson story, sac- 
rifice is offered on the bare rock, where the divine 
message is received. (Judges 6:20; 13:19). 
Compare W. Robertson Smith's Religion of the 
Semites, pp. 116 and 378. Smith remarks in a 
footnote: "the more modern story of Gideon's of- 
fering gives the modern ritual." See Judges 6: 26. 






Study of the Old Testament 49 

So, too, in Judges 13:20 an altar is mentioned. 
Gideon offered a "kid and unleavened cakes of an 
ephah of meal," and Manoah a kid and a meal 
offering. Both were burnt offerings and in both 
cases the angel of the Lord departs out of sight 
when the sacrifice is performed, thus proving his 
divine nature. 

Such things bring us close to the times of primi- 
tive religion like that ascribed to Abraham in the 
book of Genesis. In the Samson stories in the 
phrase "Nazarite unto God" (Elohim) in which 
only does the word Nazarite occur (Judges 13:5, 
7; 16: 17), we may have another indication of 
very primitive religious ideas. This because of the 
word Elohim instead of Jahweh. In Amos 2:11 
fol. it is Jahweh who complains that his Nazarites 
have been corrupted. In "Elohim" (a plural form 
meaning "god" or "gods") there seems to be an 
indication of ancient polytheism; and so we may 
class the Nazarites with the early religionists among 
Semites and Greeks alike who offered their hair to 
their gods. See Smith, ibid., page 332 and the pre- 
ceding pages. 

Of course, a custom that continued down to the 
time of Christ (see Lam. 4:7 and 8, 1 Mace. 3:49, 
Luke 1:15, Acts 21:24, with which compare 
Josephus B. /. II 15:1) would undergo some 



50 Facts About the Bible 

change. The sacredness of the hair (I Sam. i: II, 
Jud. 13:5 and 16:17) becomes in the time of 
Amos associated with "total abstinence" — see Amos 
2:11 and 12 — a thing enjoined upon Samson's 
mother during pregnancy, though not upon Sam- 
son himself. By the time Numbers, chap. 6, was 
written, the ritualists had involved the Nazarite 
in purification and sacrifices; but even here the 
ancient phrase "Nazarite unto Elohim" finds an 
echo in verse 7, "separation unto Elohim." 

IV. Religious Life and Belief of David 
(About iooo B. C.) 

No doubt many passages in Samuel are to be 
rejected along with Chronicles as unauthentic. For 
example, I Sam. 21: 1-9; II Sam. 7; and II Sam. 
12:20, where "the house of the Lord" is men- 
tioned; also many embellishments of the Goliath 
story. 

Using the evidence as best we can, we may first 
inquire what were David's surroundings. The He- 
brews felt their tribal kinship strongly (II Sam. 5 : 1 
and 19: 12 and 13). It was still an age of blood 
and savagery. (II Sam. 1 : 16; 3: 27; 14: 11; 16: 
8; 21:1; I Sam. 18:7 and 27 and 27:9). Re- 
ligious life is not organized — even Samuel goes to 



Study of the Old Testament 51 

Bethlehem with a heifer to sacrifice (I Sam. 16: 2) 
— witchcraft is practiced (I Sam. 28) — David 
swears by Elohim (I Sam. 25:22, II Sam. 3:35) 
— he goes to his own yearly sacrifice (I Sam. 20: 6) 
— and he keeps teraphim (household god) (I Sam. 
19:16). Indeed, there seems to be a general recog- 
nition of more gods than Jahweh. "The ark of 
the covenant of God" (II Sam. 15:24 fol.) is 
called the ark of Elohim and the ark of Jahweh in- 
discriminately in II Sam. chap. 6. David goes to 
live with Achish and can consider it a compliment 
to be called "as an angel of Elohim." (I Sam. 
29:9: compare, however, chap. 26:19). Perhaps 
the tribal worship of Jahweh was not yet fully 
established, for Elohim-worship is spoken of in II 
Sam. 15:32, and indicated by the speech of Joab 
in II Sam. 10: 12 — "let us play the men for our 
people, and for the cities of our Elohim ; and Jah- 
weh do that which seemeth him good." 

But, as in the name of Jonathan (Hebrew for 
"gift of Jahweh") so in the names of David's sons, 
Adonijah and Jedidiah, we have clear etymologi- 
cal evidence of Jahweh-worship in the nation. No 
doubt the priests, Zadok and Abiathar (see I Sam. 
23 : 9 fol. and 30 : 7 fol. ) stood up for the national 
god. Nathan and Gad were ready to strengthen 
the King's allegiance to Jahweh. In fact, during 



52 Facts About the Bible 

David's long reign his religious ideas must have 
developed a good deal, and the influence of such 
men as the Jahweh-prophets Gad and Nathan must 
have been considerable. As a young man he swears 
by Elohim (I Sam. 25:22, II Sam. 3:35); as 
king at Hebron he makes a covenant with the tribes 
of Israel "before Jahweh" (II Sam. 5:3). At his 
death he recalls his oath by Jahweh. (I Kings 
2:8). 

His chief business with Jahweh appears to have 
been "to inquire of the Lord" — that is, to practice 
augury. (I Sam. 23:2 and 4, comparing 22:13; 
also 23 : 9 fol. ; 30 : 8 ; II Sam. 2 : 1 ; 5 : 19 and 23 ) . 
He prayed when in great misfortune. (See his 
bitter prayer when fleeing from Absalom, II Sam. 
15: 31, and his prayer for the putting away of his 
iniquity for numbering the people, and the one of- 
fered for stopping the plague, II Sam. 24: 10 and 

17). 

In II Sam. 6: 17-19 is an account of a national 
feast of sacrifice in honor of Jahweh — "David of- 
fered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the 
Lord ... he blessed the people in the name of 
the Lord of hosts, and he dealt among all the peo- 
ple, even among the whole multitude of Israel, 
both to men and women, to every one a cake of 
bread, and a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins." 



Study of the Old Testament 53 

This was the occasion of the bringing of the ark 
into Jerusalem — when "he sacrificed an ox and a 
fading" and danced mightily before the Lord. 

At the death of Jonathan and Saul and the peo- 
ple of Jahweh (II Sam. 1:12) David mourned; 
and afterward at the death of Abner (II Sam. 3 : 33 
and 34). In the case of Bathsheba's child, he fasted 
and "lay all night upon the earth" and besought 
Elohim (II Sam. 12: 16 and compare 13:31). 

In the days of David everybody's religion was 
probably as simple as his. His morals were prob- 
ably like those of neighboring kings, not much bet- 
ter and not much worse, and would probably have 
been worse than they were had he had no religion 
at all. He was generous, poetical, attractive. He 
is called a man after God's own heart; for by his 
zeal and administrative ability he laid the founda- 
tion for religious organization, thus achieving a 
reputation like that of Moses. 

V. Conceptions of God and Religion in 
Amos. (750 B. C.) 

Amos says "the Lord took me from following 
the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy 
unto my people Israel" (chap. 7: 15). The bur- 
den of his message was, — "Behold, the eyes of the 



54 Facts About the Bible 

Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom" (9:8). 

First, as to the matter of interpolation in this 
earliest of the prophetical books. All through He- 
brew writing ante-dating II Isaiah we find no ref- 
erence to Jahweh as the Creator of the world. See 
Hosea, I Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. 
Therefore we may strike out Amos 4: 13, 5:8 and 
9, 9 : 6 as pretty certainly interpolations. The simi- 
larity between 5 : 8 and 9 and the corresponding 
passage in Job 9 : 8 and 9 (a later writing than 
Amos) (compare also Job 38:31) is so striking 
that the former — wedged in as it is with no appar- 
ent connection with the context — seems to be cer- 
tainly an interpolation. But though Jahweh may 
not have been thus early represented as creator of 
heaven and earth, that he was by Amos conceived 
to have power in the same is proved by 5 : 20 ; 8:9; 
9:2. 

At the time of Amos, Jahweh is still popularly 
considered the tribe God of Israel (7:8, 7:15 — 
and compare 9:15; 4:11 and 12 — "prepare to 
meet thy God, O Israel"). He had led His people 
up "out of the land of Egypt", through the wilder- 
ness, and had dispossessed the Amorite before them 
(2:9 and 10; 3 : 1 ; 5 : 25 ; 9:7.) "You only have 
I known of all the families of the earth" (3:2). 

Jahweh-worship in the time of Amos was not yet 



Study of the Old Testament 55 

centralized at Jerusalem (3:14; 4:4; 5:5; 8: 
14) ; but Amos appears to have battled for the 
cause of centralization. Not only does he assume 
that Zion is the proper seat of Jahweh, whence he 
utters his voice to the nation (1:2); he speaks 
of swearing by the sin of Samaria (8:14), he 
attacks the altars of Bethel (3: 14), and predicts 
that "the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and 
the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste" (7:9). 
Amos represents Jahweh as extending his authority 
even over the surrounding Gentiles (1:3 to 2 : 1 ) . 
Together with this higher conception of the old 
tribal Jahweh came the idea that his worship should 
consist of righteousness, not feast and sacrifice — 
"I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no 
delight in your solemn assemblies (compare 8: 10). 
. . . Take thou away from me the noise of thy 
songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. 
But let judgment roll down as waters, and right- 
eousness as a mighty stream" (5:21-23). Israel is 
morally corrupt (2:6 fol. and 12; 3:10; 5:12; 
8:5). She is sunk in luxury (6:1 fol.). She 
must return to the service of her righteous God 
(4:6-11). "Seek good and not evil, that ye may 
live" (5:14). "Behold, the days come, saith the 
Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, 
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, 



56 Facts About the Bible 

but of hearing the words of the Lord" (8: n). 
It is to be noted that the old tribal unity re- 
mains; for Amos preaches to the nation at large as 
sinful, rather than to individual sinners. Amos is 
properly classed among those men of his nation who 
founded ethical monotheism. He understands all 
the phases of his countrymen's beliefs, and he urges 
them on toward the conception of a supreme God 
of righteousness. 

VI. The Growth of the Law 

§ i. Definition: — In the theocracy established 
by Ezra and Nehemiah and continuing to the time 
of Josephus (70 A. D.), "The Law" meant the 
Pentateuch, "the book of the Law of Moses," (Neh. 
8:1). This "Jewish Law was ... an attempt 
to define all the beliefs and acts of life." (Prof. 
Toy, in Judaism and Christianity, p. 239). It 
"was originally the divine word which came to the 
prophets respecting the moral, religious and po- 
litical condition of the nation." (Ibid. p. 69). 

§ 2. Before Samuel: — To begin with it will be 
well to place ourselves in the earliest historic times, 
when Jahweh was to the Hebrews simply what they 
conceived Chemosh to be to the Ammonites, a na- 
tional god (Jud. 11:24). "Who is like thee, O 



Study of the Old Testament 57 

Jahweh, among the gods" are words of the old 
song in Exodus 15. The whole people is holy to 
Jahweh, as is shown by the ancient rite of circum- 
cision (II Sam. 1:20) and the idea of tribal soli- 
darity (cf. Achan's trespass, for which the whole 
people suffer, Josh. 7 : 20 fol. ; compare I Sam. 
14: 38 fol.) The religiousness of early Hebrew life 
comes out in the stories of Gideon and Manoah, 
who offer sacrifice on the bare rock without the 
formality of an altar (Jud. 6:20, 13: 19) ; in the 
worship by families (I Sam. 20: 6) ; in the vow of 
Jephthah (Jud. 11:35) — "I have opened my 
mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back"; in 
the consecration of the Nazarite (Jud. 16: 17 and 
13:5 and I Sam. 1:11). The figure of Mel- 
chizedek seems to fit in well with these early times. 
(Gen. 14: 18.) 

Apparently, the religious genius of the Hebrews 
began to manifest itself early. If we adopt the 
view of Driver (Introd. p. 144) and Schultz (O. T. 
Theol., p. 220), we should treat Ex. 18: 13-27 as 
an historical passage, and hence conclude that Moses 
was the first expounder of The Law. Certainly, 
Hebrew tradition points to him as the first law- 
giver. See Hos. 11: 1; 12:13; 13:4; and the 
ancient song of "the well whereof the Lord said 
unto Moses, Gather the people together and I will 



58 Facts About the Bible 

give them water" — for the song reads, if we adopt 
the marginal rendering: "Spring up, O well; sing 
ye unto it: The well which the princes digged, 
which the nobles of the people delved, by order of 
the lawgiver with their staves." (Num. 21 : 16-18). 

After Moses came the governors of Israel men- 
tioned in the song of Deborah (Jud. 5:9.) Such 
governors must have taught a kind of Law. So 
men learned to "Bless the Lord" (Jud. 5:2, 9) 
and to "rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord" 
(Jud. 5: 11). "Righteous acts of the Lord" imply 
a Law of righteousness, whether written or oral, 
among the Lord's people. 

§ 3. Written Law in Early Times: — Starting 
with the book of Deuteronomy, written before 620 
B. C, we can trace back a written law through 
the time of Hosea (about 750 B. C). Hosea 8: 12 
certainly speaks of written law. No doubt Hosea 
was numbered among those prophets by whose 
word of mouth "the Lord testified unto Israel and 
unto Judah." (II Kings 17: 13.) But the Lord 
said: "keep my commandments and my statutes, ac- 
cording to all the law which I commanded your 
fathers." (Ibid.) If this passage in II Kings is to 
be depended on there is good reason to believe that 
Ex. 20:23-23: 19 (which has every appearance of 
being the earliest written law in the Old Testa- 



Study of the Old Testament 59 

ment) was extant in the days of Hosea as an heir- 
loom from the fathers, and "sent ... by the hand 
of my servants the prophets." (See the passage in 
II Kings). These prophets may have handed down 
the law from the governors of the days of Deb- 
orah. 

§ 4. The Rise of Prophets: — In the time of 
David (about 1000 B. C.) the functions of priests 
(II Sam. 8: 17; 20: 25 and 26) were different ap- 
parently from those of prophets (see stories of 
Nathan and Gad, II Sam. 12 and 24:11). As 
far back as we can trace priests they are priests still 
and not prophets (the company at Nob, slain by 
Saul, I Sam, 22: 11 fol., Eli and his sons, I Sam. I 
fol., the Levite of Judges iy ' , Jethro, the priest of 
Midian, Ex. 18). The earliest prophets, on the 
other hand, appear to have been little different 
from priests. Their successors seem to have be- 
come more and more distinct from priests till in 
the times of Amos and Hosea prophets and priests 
are in open conflict. 

The first historical prophet is Samuel, priest as 
well as prophet. In I Sam. 7:5, 9, 16, 17, he 
appears as a priest. In the anointing of Saul and 
David he appears as something more. In his slay- 
ing of Agag (I Sam. 15:33) he appears as a 
prophet of Jahweh. 



60 Facts About the Bible 

Elijah was very little of a priest. He treated 
Ahab with a high hand, as Samuel did Saul; he 
slew the priests of Baal; he threatened the land 
with drought; he acted under the consciousness of 
divine guidance. 

Elisha collected about himself a school of prophets 
(II Kings 6: 1-5,) one of whom he sent to anoint 
the usurper Jehu (II Kings 9: 1 fol.) 

When the people had become securely settled in 
Canaan and their ideas had begun to grow, the 
priesthood continued in the conservative ways of the 
forefathers while the more liberal and advanced 
religious thought was represented by the teaching 
of the prophets. So there arose the prophetic word 
which became Law. 

§ 5. Amos and Hosea: — It is nearly a hundred 
years after Elisha that we reach the sure historical 
ground of prophetic writing in Amos and Hosea. 
They both condemn priestcraft. (See Amos 4:4; 
5:5; 5:20-22; 7:10-17; 8:11-14; 9:1; Hosea 
4:6-10, 15; 5: 1; 6:9; 8:5; 9:4; 10:5). They 
were "concerned with no mere lists of statutes 
touching ritual and cleanliness, but with the eternal 
principles of truth, justice and mercy." (See Ryle's 
Old Testament Canon, p. 33). Such principles 
were what they meant by Law. (Amos 2:4; Hosea 
4:6; 8: 1, 12). 



Study of the Old Testament 61 

Amos, with his lofty conception of the righteous 
Lord God, and Hosea with his conception of the 
one true God, God of righteousness and mercy, 
laid the foundation for the highest moral laws of 
the Pentateuch. Their teaching was taken up into 
the thought of their countrymen, and is embodied 
in Deuteronomy. 

§6. Exodus 20: 23-23: iq: — Through Amos 
and Hosea we may attempt to fix a date for the 
earliest legal code in the Old Testament, Ex. 20: 
23-23:19. I have already cited Hosea 8:12, 
where reference is made to written law. II Kings 
11 : 12 and Isaiah 8 : 20 appear to refer to the same. 
When I consider the high moral development of 
Amos and Hosea, together with the fact that the 
kingdoms of Israel and Judah had by their day 
existed two hundred years, I am inclined to ascribe 
great antiquity to Ex. 20: 23-23: 19. Deuteronomy 
17:8-13 points back to an ancient custom where 
teachers of the national religion decide cases of 
civil law, and this is decreed in Ex. 21 : 6; 22: 8, 9, 
28. The state of affairs represented in Hosea's 
condemnation of the priests as dispensers of justice 
(Hos. 5:1; 4:8) must have arisen long after the 
formulation of the statute in Ex. 22 : 8 and 9 ; for 
evidently when this statute was written priests were 
acceptable as the regular dispensers of justice. It 



62 Facts About the Bible 

may be objected that Hosea finds the people awhor- 
ing after foreign gods, although commanded in Ex. 
23:13 (cf. 22:20) to "make no mention of the 
name of other gods." But if they did this in di- 
rect disobedience to written law, we simply have the 
justification of Hosea's violent language. Hosea in 
his idea of mercy appears to have got far beyond 
the rule "eye for eye, tooth for tooth." (Ex. 21: 
23-25). Compare Amos 2:8 — clothes taken in 
pledge — with Ex. 22 : 26 and 27. All things con- 
sidered, the date of the earliest written law in the 
Old Testament, namely, Ex. 20:23-23:19, may 
be put as far back as 850 B. C. 

This earliest written code is the civil code of a 
religious people. Besides the passages already cited 
I note the following: 

Direction is given for building altars to Jahweh. 
Ex. 20: 24-25. 

The "oath of the Lord" shall witness the good 
faith of neighbors. Ex. 22 : 11. 

The fugitive murderer is to be taken from the 
altar. Ex. 21 : 14. 

"Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live." Ex. 
22: 18. 

"He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the 
Lord only, shall be devoted." Ex. 22 : 20. 



Study of the Old Testament 63 

"The firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto 
me". Ex. 22 : 29. 

"Ye shall be holy men unto me." Ex. 22: 31. 

The sabbath. Ex. 23 : 12-cf. 21:2. 

"Three times in the year all thy males shall ap- 
pear before the Lord God." Ex. 23: 17. 

There is also in this early code a beginning of 
written priestly Law — such as Zephaniah may have 
referred to when he said "her priests have profaned 
the sanctuary, they have done violence to the Law." 
(Zeph. 3:4.) For example: 

"Thou shalt not delay to offer of the abundance 
of thy fruits, and of thy liquors." Ex. 22 : 29. 

"Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice 
with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my 
feast remain all night until the morning. The 
first of the first fruits of thy ground thou shalt 
bring into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou 
shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk." Ex. 
23: 18 and 19. 

The law in regard to the three feasts. Ex. 23 : 
14-17. 

Such is the early written code of a religious 
people. Fidelity to Jehovah and free access to 
him, wherever a man chose to build an altar of 
unhewn stones. Simple and reverent rules for his 



64 Facts About the Bible 

worship and his feasts. Consecration of self and 
children unto Jehovah. More reverence for jus- 
tice than false pity for the murderer. Indeed, the 
purely civil laws of this code display a high ideal 
of morality, as severe as it is simple: the Hebrew 
servant shall go free in the seventh year if he so 
chooses: he that smiteth his father, or his mother, 
shall be surely put to death: he that stealeth a 
man shall surely be put to death: ye shall not 
afflict any widow or fatherless child: thou shalt 
not take up a false report, nor wrest judgment: a 
stranger thou/ shalt not oppress. Such ethics prom- 
ise well for future religious development. 

§ 7. The Law Book of 621 B. C: — As we have 
glanced backward from Amos and Hosea to the 
early written code, we may look forward through 
Isaiah (about 730 B. C.) to the elaborate book 
of the Law found in the temple by Hilkiah the high 
priest in 621 B. C. (See II Kings 22:8.) Save 
the law of love to one's neighbor (Lev. 19: 18), 
no new law of the prophetic kind was added to the 
Pentateuch after this. The Hebrew nation had to 
realize through calamity and long years of religious 
training what her prophets had taught her. No 
doubt the words of Isaiah had much to do with 
shaping the final prophetic law as found in the 
Law Book of 621 B. C. Isaiah identified the "law 



Study of the Old Testament 65 

of the Lord" with the words of the prophet whose 
lips had been touched with a living coal from off 
the altar — with "the word of the Lord." (See 
Isai. 6:7; 5:24; 1:10; 8:16; 30:9). He re- 
bukes the lying children who will not "hear the 
law of the Lord." (30:9.) 

In Hilkiah's Book of the Law, identified as the 
book of Deuteronomy, substantially, is the con- 
stantly recurring phrase, "the Lord thy God." In 
Deut. 13:4; 12:3; 14:2 is commanded the wor- 
ship of Jehovah alone. Severe punishment is to be 
meted out to those who are false to him. (13:9, 
15, 16; 17:5; 18:20). 

The book contains half the early code of Ex. 
20:23-23:19; and more elaborate rules of social 
ethics than are therein to be found. The laws of 
Deut. 22: 13-30 go to remedy evils which Amos 
(2:7 and 8) and Hosea (4:13 and 14) depict. 
Compare also Amos 8 : 5 — false weights and meas- 
ures — with Deut. 25: 13-15. 

The priestly law of the old code is also enlarged 
— by a list of clean and unclean animals (14: 3-20), 
a more elaborate account of the three feasts (16: 1- 
17), and the law of tithes (12:11, 17; 14:22, 
28; 26: 12). A reference to unwritten priestly law 
which afterwards finds a place in Leviticus is made 
in 24 : 8. 



66 Facts About the Bible 

It will not be necessary to dwell upon the po- 
litical nature of this Deuteronomic code, written 
with the express purpose to suppress foreign cults 
(12:2, 3, 31; 16:21, 22; 13:6 fol. ; 14:1), and 
to centralize worship at Jerusalem, "the place which 
the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name 
to dwell there" [a Hebrew idiom awkwardly pre- 
served in the English translation] (12:11, 13, 5; 
14:24; 16:5; 17: 10). Nor will it be necessary 
to cite at length the provisions to meet the exigen- 
cies of the proposed centralization of worship (12: 
15, comparing verses 17 and 18; 18:6-8; 14:29; 
12: 18, 19; 16: 14). In II Kings 23 is a picture 
of the violent commotion caused by the enforce- 
ment of the Deuteronomic code. Compare II Ki. 
23:9 with Deut. 18:6-8. 

The leaven of the prophets had worked till 
idolatry and local worship of Jehovah were together 
swept from the face of the land. The word of the 
prophets had become the written law of the people. 
The conservative worship of Jehovah of Amaziah's 
day (Amos 7), which had not been of high enough 
order to preclude the rise of Canaanitish worship 
among the Hebrews (Hosea 2), had given place 
to higher things. Indeed, this Law created by the 
prophetic teaching of the eighth century was a high- 



Study of the Old Testament 67 

water mark of national religious feeling. The 
successors of Josiah did that which was evil in the 
sight of Jahweh till Jerusalem fell. (II Kings 23: 
32, 37:24:9, 19.) 

§ 8. How Further Prophetic Teaching Af- 
fected the Law: — In the two centuries following 
the first appearance of Hilkiah's book, the chief 
additions to the written Law were matters of ritual 
and the priesthood of this higher religion. As Well- 
hausen says (Hist, of Israel, translation p. 402) : 
"There was now in existence an authority as ob- 
jective as could be; and this was the death of 
prophecy." 

Jeremiah, "the last of the prophets," who tried 
to add to the prophetic Law the idea of individual 
responsibility towards God (Jer. 31:29-34; com- 
pare Deut. 5:9, also Deut. 24: 16), could scarcely 
get a hearing. He taught by word of mouth (Jer. 
7:1-15), and his prophecies were collected and 
put together without order by future moralists. 
When he threatened, "Thus saith the Lord: If ye 
will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which 
I have set before you, to hearken to the words 
of my servants the prophets, whom I send unto 
you, even rising up early and sending them, but 
ye have not hearkened; then will I make this house 



68 Facts About the Bible 

like Shiloh," the people could reply: "we are wise, 
and the law of the Lord is with us." (Jer. 26:4 
and 5 and 8:8). 

Ezekiel followed the more successful policy when 
he took steps to develop the laws of ritual. Well- 
hausen calls him "the connecting link between the 
prophets and the law." (Ibid. p. 421). He lays 
down the "law of the house" (43: 12), "the ordi- 
nances of the house of the Lord." (44:5). He 
defines the position of the Levites "which went 
astray from me." (44: 10). He describes the Day 
of Atonement. (45:18 fol. cf. Lev. 16). He 
designates the place of the guilt offering, the sin of- 
fering, and the meal offering. (46:20). The 
east gate shall be opened on the Sabbath day and 
the day of the new moon. ( 46 : 1 ) . In short, 
chapters 40-46 are devoted to laws of temple 
service. 

In the theocracy of the future, Ezekiel would re- 
vive the old rule of priestly courts of justice found 
in Ex. 22 : 8 and 9. See Ezekiel 44 : 24. The 
people are to become a nation with priestly laws: 
the priests "shall teach my people the difference 
between the holy and common, and cause them to 
discern between the unclean and the clean." 
(44:23, and compare 22:26). 

Ezekiel wrote in exile. And so did the Second 



Study of the Old Testament 69 

Isaiah, who hailed the era of good law: "Hearken 
unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in 
whose heart is my law." (Isai. 51:7). Again: 
"Attend unto me, O my people; and give ear unto 
me, O my nation: for a law shall go forth from 
me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a 
light of the peoples." (Isai. 51:4). 

§ 9. The People of the Law: — Then came the 
return of the exiles and the actual founding of a 
theocracy by Ezra and Nehemiah based upon the 
"law of Moses." This the Jews studied and cher- 
ished, producing no great original prophets till 
Jesus came, but ripening and enriching their thought 
till the ground was ready for his sowing. To this 
the production of the Psalms bears witness. 

Josephus (about 100 A. D.) has much to say 
in praise of the Jewish theocracy, of which he was 
a member. "Moses did not make religion a part 
of virtue, but he saw and he ordained other virtues 
to be parts of religion; I mean justice, and forti- 
tude, and temperance, and a universal agreement 
of the members of a community with one another." 
(II Apion 17). Again: "the Lacedemonians and 
the Cretans did teach by practical exercises, but not 
by words; while the Athenians and almost all the 
other Grecians made laws about what was to be 
done, or left undone, but had no regard to the 



70 Facts About the Bible 

exercising them thereto in practice." (Ibid.) 
Josephus contrasts this with the Jewish custom of 
meeting every week "for the hearing of the law." 
The Jews knew their laws, "having them as it 
were engraven on our souls." (Chap. 19). He 
speaks of the moral courage which his countrymen 
displayed in adhering to their laws. (Chap. 33). 
Of this the heroic struggle of the Maccabees is an 
illustration. He speaks of Jewish purity (chap. 
25), and of the proof of long use as to the real 
value of the Law. ( Chap. 21). To conclude : 
"We have one sort of discourse concerning God, 
which is conformable to our law, and affirms that 
he sees all things ; as also we have but one way of 
speaking concerning the conduct of our lives, that 
all other things ought to have piety for their end; 
and this anybody may hear from our women and 
servants themselves." (Chap. 20). 



CHAPTER IV 

the formation of the new testament 

External Evidence 

NOT till the third Council of Carthage, in 397 
A. D., do we find our particular collection 
of New Testament books adopted as the authorita- 
tive collection of the West. (See Westcotfs N. 
T. Canon, p. 439 fol.) In the East is recognized 
to this day the Syrian Canon, which omits II John, 
III John, II Peter, Jude, and the Apocalypse, but 
includes "all the other books as commonly received 
without any addition." (Ibid. p. 236 fol.) 

Our oldest manuscripts do not contain the New 
Testament just as we have it. The Vatican manu- 
script, assigned to the fourth century, is mutilated, 
so that the Epistles to Timothy, Titus and Phile- 
mon are wanting; and the Apocalypse has been 
added by a later hand. (See Hammond's Outline 
of Textual Crit. p. 126). Our only other manu- 
script of the fourth century, the Sinaitic, contains 
our New Testament entire, with the addition of 

7i 



72 Facts About the Bible 

the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Her- 
nias. (Ibid., pp. 124, 125 and 40). Codex Alexan- 
drinus, of the fifth century, in addition to our New 
Testament contains the first epistle of Clement of 
Rome and a fragment of his so-called second epistle. 
(Ibid., p. 125). 

Eusebius, the father of Church History, describes 
the accepted books of the New Testament of his 
day (325 A. D.) as follows: (Ecc. Hist. Book 
III, chap. 25) : 

"The holy quaternion of the gospels; these are 
followed by 'The book of the Acts of the Apostles' ; 
after this must be mentioned the epistles of Paul, 
which are followed by the acknowledged first 
Epistle of John, as also the first of Peter, to be 
admitted in like manner. After these is to be 
placed, if proper, the Revelation of John, concern- 
ing which we shall offer the different opinions in 
due time. These, then, are acknowledged as gen- 
uine. Among the disputed books, although they 
are well known and approved by many, is reputed 
that called the Epistle of James and Jude. Also 
the 'Second Epistle of Peter,' and those called 'the 
Second and Third of John,' whether they are of the 
evangelist or of some other of the same name. 
Among the spurious must be numbered both the 
books called 'The Acts of Paul,' and that called 
'Pastor,' and the 'Revelation of Peter.' Beside 
these, the books called 'The Epistle of Barnabas,' 



The Formation of the New Testament 73 

and what are called 'The Institutions of the Apos- 
tles.' Moreover, as I said before, if it should ap- 
pear right, 'The Revelation of John,' which some, 
as before said, reject, but others rank among the 
genuine. But there are also some who number 
among these, the gospel according to the Hebrews, 
with which those of the Hebrews who have re- 
ceived Christ are particularly delighted. These may 
be said to be all concerning which there is any 
dispute." 

Many other passages in Eusebius bear upon our 
subject. He says: 

Of Mark: "The divine word having been estab- 
lished among the Romans, the power of Simon was 
soon extinguished and destroyed together with the 
man. So greatly, however, did the splendour of 
piety enlighten the minds of Peter's hearers that 
it was not sufficient to hear but once, nor to receive 
the unwritten doctrine of the gospel of God, but 
they persevered in every variety of entreaties to 
solicit Mark as the companion of Peter, and whose 
gospel we have, that he should leave them a monu- 
ment of the doctrine thus orally communicated, in 
writing. Nor did they cease their solicitations un- 
til they had prevailed with the man, and thus be- 
come the means of that history which is called the 
gospel according to Mark. They say also, that 
the apostle (Peter) having ascertained what was 
done by the revelation of the spirit, was delighted 



74 Facts About the Bible 

with the zealous ardor expressed by these men, and 
that the history obtained his authority for the pur- 
pose of being read in the churches." (Euseb. Ecc. 
Hist., Bk. II, chap. 15.) 

Of Luke: "Luke, who was born at Antioch, and 
by profession a physician, being for the most part 
connected with Paul, and familiarly acquainted 
with the rest of the apostles, has left us in two 
inspired books, the institutes of that spiritual heal- 
ing art which he obtained from them. One of these 
is his gospel, in which he testifies that he has re- 
corded, 'as those who were from the beginning 
eye-witnesses, and ministers of the word,' delivered 
to him, whom also, he says, he has in all things 
followed. The other is his Acts of the Apostles, 
which he composed, not from what he had heard 
from others, but from what he had seen himself. 
It is also said that Paul usually referred to his 
gospel, whenever in his epistles he spoke of some 
particular gospel of his own, saying, 'according to 
my gospel.' " (Ibid. 111:4.) 

Of Matthew and John: "Matthew also having 
first proclaimed the gospel in Hebrew, when on 
the point of going also to other nations, committed 
it to writing in his native tongue, and thus supplied 
the want of his presence to them by his writings. 
But after Mark and Luke had already published 
their gospels they say that John, who during all 
this time was proclaiming the gospel without writ- 
ing, at length proceeded to write it on the follow- 



The Formation of the New Testament 75 

ing occasion. The three gospels previously written, 
having been distributed among all, and also handed 
to him, they say that he admitted them; giving his 
testimony to their truth; but that there was only 
wanting in the narrative the account of the things 
done by Christ, among the first of his deeds, and 
ai the commencement of his gospel." (Ibid. Ill: 
24.) 

Such were the views of orthodox Christians of 
the year 325 A. D. The views thus expressed by 
Eusebius came down from the times of Irenaeus 
(about 180 A. D.). A perusal of chapters IX- 
XI of the third book of his Adv. Her. reveals the 
fact that he had before him our gospels in their 
present shape. That they were extant in 175 A. D. 
is attested by much concurrent testimony — the 
"Logos Alethes" of Celsus, the Muratori fragment, 
Tatian's Diatessaron, the mention of John's Gospel 
by Theophilus in his defense of Christianity, etc. 

Between the years 175 and 135 A. D. testimony 
as to the authority of the four gospels becomes 
scarce. Justin Martyr (about 145 A. D.) quotes 
largely from a written source which he calls the 
"Memoirs of the Apostles," quoting many pas- 
sages from the Synoptic gospel story. [Matthew, 
Mark and Luke are the "Synoptic" gospels]. He 
also refers to a number of things not mentioned in 



76 Facts About the Bible 

our gospels: such as the descent of Mary through 
David, the birth of Jesus in a cave, the close of 
the angel's speech to Mary — all which things are 
found in the Apocryphal Gospel of James. (See 
Supernatural Religion vol. I, p. 299 fol., and com- 
pare Westcott's N. T. Canon p. 158 fol.). Apocry- 
phal gospels of Christ have been collected and pub- 
lished by B. H. Cowper, London, 1881. Justin 
distinctly refers to John the Apostle as the author 
of the Apocalypse; and a number of passages in his 
first Apology seem to echo the Fourth Gospel. Our 
four gospels may have been known to him; though 
it would seem from his use of apocryphal matter 
that the collection of books of the New Testament 
was still in an unsettled state. He does not men- 
tion Matthew, Mark, Luke or John as the author 
of a gospel. 

About 140 A. D. Marcion formed the first his- 
torical collection of New Testament books, contain- 
ing "the Gospel" and the "Apostolicon" (See 
Westcott, Ibid., p. 312). "The gospel was a 
recension of St. Luke with numerous omissions and 
variations from the received text. The Apostolicon 
contained ten Epistles of St. Paul, excluding the 
Pastoral Epistles and that to the Hebrews" (Quoted 
from Westcott, p. 314). Supernatural Religion 
(vol. II p. 108 and p. 141) disputes the statement 



The Formation of the New Testament 77 

that Marcion's gospel was a recension of Luke. 

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (date 
about 100 A. D.) contains the Lord's prayer 
(chapter 8) : and Clement of Rome (about 96 A. 
D.) used fragments of the language of the Sermon 
on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). (See Westcott p. 60.) 

Of such a nature is the evidence before 150 A. D. 
It is very meagre. Just when and just how our 
four gospels came into existence, and how they 
came to be ascribed to the authors whose names 
they now bear will no doubt remain insoluble ques- 
tions — unless we take the titles in good faith. 

There is a passage in Eusebius which may yet 
prove to be the key to these questions, "a tradition 
which" Papias "sets forth concerning Mark" ; also, 
his statement in regard to Matthew: 

"And John the Presbyter also said this, 'Mark 
being the interpreter of Peter whatsoever he re- 
corded he wrote with great accuracy, but not, how- 
ever, in the order in which it was spoken or done 
by our Lord, for he neither heard nor followed our 
Lord, but, as before said, he was in company with 
Peter, who gave him such instruction as was nec- 
essary, but not to give a history of our Lord's dis- 
courses; wherefore Mark has not erred in any- 
thing, by writing some things as he has recorded 
them; for he was carefully attentive to one thing, 
not to pass by anything that he heard, or to state 



78 Facts About the Bible 

anything falsely in these accounts.' Such is the 
account of Papias respecting Mark. Of Matthew- 
he has stated as follows: 'Matthew composed his 
history in the Hebrew dialect, and every one trans- 
lated it as he was able.' " (Eusebius, Bk. Ill, 39.) 

Now fragments of the Gospel according to the 
Hebrews have been collected from authors who 
quoted it. (See E. B. Nicholson's Gosp. ace. to 
Hebr.). It is not hard to suppose this Hebrew 
gospel to have been in its earliest possible form the 
work of Matthew himself. The earliest Greek 
Gospel is probably Mark, and perhaps, as Papias 
says, Mark was its real author. 

Papias wrote about 140 A. D. (See Westcott, 
p. 70 footnote). 

Internal Evidence 

Strauss maintained that the truth as to the com- 
position of our gospels must "be determined wholly 
by internal grounds of evidence." (See Geo. Eliot's 
Strauss's Life of Jesus, p. 75 and following.) 

The interdependence of the first three gospels, 
the Synoptics, is shown by the fact "that twelve- 
thirteenths of the ministry which they describe is 
left without a record; and that the three gospels 
move within the limits of the remaining one-thir- 



The Formation of the New Testament 79 

teenth." (Martineau's Seat of Authority in Re- 
ligion, p. 185.) 

W. G. Rushbrooke's Synopticon shows very 
clearly that one Greek gospel story underlies the 
first three Gospels. For example, a comparison is 
made of Mk. XII: i-n, Matt. XXI: 33-42 and 
Luke XX: 9-17, with this result: 

"That from Mark XII: 1 to Mark XII: 11, St. 
Matthew and St. Luke contain nothing in common 
which is not also found in a slightly modified edi- 
tion of St. Mark. This being the case, it can be 
proved by reductio ad absurdum that St. Mark did 
not copy from St. Matthew and St. Luke. For, 
suppose that he did so copy; it follows that he 
must not only have constructed a narrative based 
upon two others, borrowing here a piece from St. 
Matthew and here a piece from St. Luke, but that 
he must have deliberately determined to insert, and 
must have adapted his narrative so as to insert, 
every word that was common to St. Matthew and 
St. Luke. The difficulty of doing this is enormous, 
and will be patent to every one who will try to 
perform a similar literary feat himself." 

Mark, therefore, did not copy from Matthew 
and Luke. Matthew did not copy from Luke and 
Mark: for had he done so, Matthew and Luke 
would contain something in common not found in 
the parallel passage of Mark. Luke did not copy 



80 Facts About the Bible 

from Matthew and Mark for a similar reason. No 
one of the three copied from both the others. 

Luke did not copy from Matthew alone. For 
had he done so they would have contained things 
in common not found in Mark. For similar reason 
Matthew did not copy from Luke alone. 

Mark did not copy from Luke alone. For had 
he done so, there would be found parallel passages 
in Matthew and Luke not found in Mark. For 
similar reason Mark did not copy from Matthew 
alone. 

The only possibility left is that Luke and Mat- 
thew (at least in the case of many parallel passages) 
each copied separately from Mark, or a document 
underlying Mark. 

To bear out this logic it may be observed that 
Luke is later than Mark. For in Mark we have 
a comparatively simple narrative, no wonderful birth 
of John the Baptist or of Jesus, no artificial gene- 
alogy for Jesus, no wonderful stories of his reap- 
pearance after resurrection (that is, if we follow 
our fourth century manuscripts of Mark — at any 
rate, Mark is very brief as regards things happen- 
ing after the resurrection when compared with 
Luke). Furthermore, Papias, while he gives us a 
tradition as to Mark and Matthew, affords no 
evidence for Luke. Again, Luke 21:20 reads: 



The Formation of the New Testament 81 

"when ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, 
then know that her desolation is at hand" — a pas- 
sage which must have been written after the tak- 
ing of Jerusalem in 70 A. D., and which is with- 
out its parallel in the corresponding passage of 
Mark XIII. Yet again, Luke 1 : 1 reads, "Foras- 
much as many have taken in hand to draw up a 
narrative," etc. 

Therefore Luke is later than Mark. 

Likewise it may be shown that the Greek Mat- 
thew is later than Mark : ( 1 ) On account of the 
beginning and the close of the book. (2) On ac- 
count of the use of prophecy quoted to prove that 
Jesus was the Messiah. (See chap. 1:22; II: 5 J 
IV: 14; XII: 17; XIII: 14, 35; XXI 14 and com- 
pare the use of prophecy in Mark, not in a dogmatic 
way but more as liberal preachers to-day use a Bible 
text: Chap. 1:2; VII: 6, with which compare 
Matt. 15:7; XII: 10, cf. Matt. 21:42; XII : 36, 
cf . Matt. 22 : 43 ) . ( 3 ) On account of the use 
of a sign to prove the same thing, in Matt. 12: 39: 
"An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a 
sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but 
the sign of Jonah the prophet," etc., cf. Matt. 16: 4. 
In the parallel of Mark (8: 12) we have simply: 
"he sighed deeply in his spirit and saith, Why doth 
this generation seek a sign? verily I say unto you, 



82 Facts About the Bible 

There shall no sign be given unto this generation." 
(The signs spoken of in Mark 16:9-20 indicate 
perhaps that these disputed verses are spurious.) 
(4) On account of the reference to the church in 
Matt. 16:18 (cf. 18:17). (5) On account of 
the passage in Matt. 24: 15 about the "abomination 
of desolation" in the holy place — thought to refer 
to the statue of Zeus set up in the holy place by 
Emperor Hadrian, 134 A. D. (So says Prof. 
Moore of Andover.) 

Therefore Matthew in its Greek form is later 
than Mark. 

Now there are strong arguments to support the 
belief that Mark actually did write the simplest of 
our Gospels. The report that John the Presbyter 
gave out concerning the composition of the second 
gospel (see p. 77 of this treatise), and that was 
accepted by Papias in good faith, and that accords 
so well with the simple straightforward story of 
the second gospel, should be carefully weighed. 
Again, the genuineness of Paul's epistles argues for 
that of all the New Testament books with which 
they have come down. Mark may have recorded 
miracles in good faith — the real author, whoever 
he is, probably did so. Mark would have believed 
in the Second Advent more easily than a man of 
a succeeding generation. The Second Advent was 



The Formation of the New Testament 83 

a part of the Christian belief of his day. (See 
chaps. 13; 8:38; 9:1.) Very likely, then, our 
Greek Mark (rejecting the last twelve verses, and 
allowing for later interpolations) is the work of 
the man Mark, who, as Papias observes, neither 
heard nor followed our Lord. 

Our Greek Matthew is later than Mark, as has 
been shown. It is evidently not the gospel men- 
tioned by Papias — " Matthew composed his gospel 
in the Hebrew dialect, and every one translated it 
as he was able." The author of our Greek Mat- 
thew copied passages from Mark or from a manu- 
script underlying Mark. He may have obtained 
the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) and other 
passages from Matthew's gospel; and for that rea- 
son, perhaps, his gospel has received its present 
name, "according to Matthew." It is natural to 
suppose that the Gospel which is pervaded with the 
idea of the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy must 
have some connection with Matthew's Gospel in 
Hebrew. 

That one and the same author wrote both Luke 
and Acts is shown by the dedication of each to 
Theophilus, as well as by similarities of style. "The 
literary evidence, from the complexion of the lan- 
guage, and organism of the style, clearly indicates 
the action of the same mind and hand." (Marti- 



84 Facts About the Bible 

neau's Seat of Authority, p. 245.) But that that 
author was Luke, as Eusebius believed him to be, 
is not so certain. (See Euseb. Ecc. Hist., Bk. Ill, 
Chap. 4.) It is hard to believe that the actual 
companion of Paul (II Tim. 4: 11; Phil. 24; Col. 
4: 14) would have recorded such things of him as 
his miraculous cure of the lame man (Acts 14: 8), 
his miraculous escape from prison (Act 16:26), 
his cures by holy contagion (Acts 19: 12), his rais- 
ing a person from the dead (Acts 20:9) together 
with parallel incidents in the life of Peter (Acts 

3:2; 12:7; 5:19; 5:15; 9:36 fol.). Yet, in the 
case of Paul, a man of such wonderful activity 

and daring, there may have been grounds for these 

stories. The raising from the dead in Acts 20 : 9 

is easily explained: Paul himself declared that the 

young man still had life in him. Now II Tim. 

4: 11, Col. 4: 14 and Phil. 24 (the only passages 

in the New Testament where Luke is named ) were 

all written after 60 A. D. Luke must have come 

into relationship with Paul no earlier than 50 A. D. 

(cf. Acts 16: 10-17, an d the later "we" passages 

in Acts 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1 fol.) So that 

Luke must have recorded much from hearsay, "even 

as they delivered them unto us, which from the 

beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the 



The Formation of the New Testament 85 

word." (Luke 1:2.) This does not preclude the 
probability that he copied largely from Mark. 

Next we come to the Fourth Gospel. Here there 
is no tradition of Papias to start with — save that 
it is said that Papias "made use of testimony from 
the first Epistle of John," which closely resembles 
the writing of the author of the Fourth Gospel. 
(See Euseb. Ecc. Hist. Ill, 39.) The first men- 
tion of the gospel is made by Theophilus, 175 A. D. 
Even the apologetic writers to-day rank the Fourth 
Gospel as a late one. The Second Advent idea of 
the Synoptics is replaced by the idea of the Para- 
clete. The Synoptics put the Lord's supper at the 
time of the Jewish passover, while the Fourth Gos- 
pel puts it the day before the passover; in which 
respect there is the same variance between the two 
as divided the churches of Lesser Asia from the 
West in the famous paschal controversy of the 
Christian church. (See Martineau, Seat of Author- 
ity, pp. 227-235 and compare Mk. XIV: 12-17, 
Luke XXII: 7-15, Matt. XXVI: 17-20 with John 
13: 1, 18: 28, 19: 14 and 36.) 

In Mark's simple gospel Jesus is said to have 
refused to give a sign (8: 12). In the fourth 
Gospel he begins his career by changing water into 
wine — "this beginning of his signs did Jesus in 



86 Facts About the Bible 

Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his 
disciples believed on him." These passages mark 
the distinguishing characteristics of the two books, 
as I will proceed to point out. Salvation through 
belief, because of his miracles, that Jesus was the 
Christ, is the central teaching of the Fourth Gos- 
pel: "Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the 
presence of the disciples, which are not written in 
this book: but these are written, that ye may believe 
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that 
believing ye may have life in his name" (John 20: 
30 and 31). Such passages are too numerous to 
quote. I cite John 1:7, I2 > 15, 29 fol., 34, 41, 
50; II: 11, 22; III: 15, 16, 36; IV: 26, 39, 42, 53; 
V:23, 27, 32-39, 46; VI 14, 29, 40, 47, 64, 69; 
VII 5, 31, 38, 41 ; VIII 18, 24, 28, 46; IX 3, 22, 
36, 38, 41 ; X 7 fol., 25, 38, 42; XI 15, 25-27, 45, 
48; XII 36, 38-40, 44, 46; XIV 1, 6, 7, 10-12, 
20; XV 6; XVI 27, 31 ; XVII 3, 8, 20, 21 ; XX 8, 
25, 27. 

Contrast such doctrine with the teaching of the 
Synoptics, and judge which is theology and which 
is the religion of Jesus of Nazareth. "Not every 
one that saith unto me, Lord, lord, shall enter into 
the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will 
of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21). 
Consider these passages in Mark: "repent ye and 



The Formation of the New Testament 87 

believe in the gospel" {notj "that I am the Christ"), 
lit 5; the parable of the sower, IV: 14 fol. ; the 
nature of the kingdom of God, IV 26-32; "and 
they went out and preached that men should re- 
pent," VI:i2; "whosoever shall lose his life for my 
sake and the gospel's shall save it," VIII 35 and 
compare X : 29 ; "Suffer the little children to come 
unto me . . . for of such is the kingdom of God," 
X 14; "why callest thou me god?" X: 18; "who- 
soever would become great among you, shall be 
your servant," X 43 ; "the Son of Man came not 
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 
his life a ransom for many," X 45 ; "Have faith 
in God" XI 22; "There is none other command- 
ment greater than these," XII 31; "My God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me?" XV 34. 

There are, indeed, numerous passages showing 
the tendency even at the early date of Mark's Gos- 
pel to deify Jesus, as he is deified in the Fourth 
Gospel: E. g. Mk. I: 1, 24, 34; II: 10; III: 11; 

IV: 41; V: 7 ; VIII: 29, 38; IX: 7, 9, 12, 38,41; 
X:47; XIII: 6, 9, 22, 26, 32; XV: 32, 39. But 
belief in such deification is not as yet made the test 
of faith. 

I do not believe that Jesus preached that belief 
in his divine sonship was requisite to salvation. The 
sort of belief, or faith, which he preached is illus- 



88 Facts About the Bible 

trated in Mark IX: 23 — "All things are possible 
to him that believeth" (cf. V:36); also, "Go thy 
way ; thy faith hath made thee whole," X : 52. 

The Fourth Gospel, then, is the furthest from 
the real Jesus. It is the doctrinal product of early 
Christians written to persuade people that "Jesus 
is the Christ." 

Begin with Paul's simple, straightforward ac- 
count of his adventures in II Cor. XI, and by the 
time the Acts of the Apostles was written he is 
performing miracles. Begin with the spoken word 
of Jesus, whom they understood not, "and were 
afraid to ask him" (Mk. IX: 32); and, passing 
through the pure teaching of the sermon on the 
mount and Mark's simple miracle stories, in the 
Fourth Gospel we find a God in disguise, proving 
his nature that men may be sound in their theology. 

New Testament Epistles 

Thus we should be led on to the consideration 
of the Epistles of the New Testament, and the 
Book of Revelation, which contains the punishment 
for him who would add to or subtract from the 
words of the prophecy of this book. (Rev. 22: 18- 
19.) We have already noted the doubt which the 
early church historian Eusebius throws upon the 



The Formation of the New Testament 89 

genuineness of this part of the New Testament. 
But the great epistles of Paul the apostle remain 
unquestioned. Here, then (for example, in Paul's 
first letter to the Corinthians where he speaks of 
Christ's resurrection, in a spiritual sense, perhaps, 
chap. 15; and of the Lord's Supper, chap. 11), we 
have historical testimony of a date probably preced- 
ing the writing of Mark. 

Without going through with the discussion of 
the rest of the New Testament, we can now try to 
trace out the truth about the great central charac- 
ter, Jesus of Nazareth, from the testimony at hand. 



CHAPTER V 

THE HISTORY OF JESUS AS PRESENTED BY THE 
STUDY OF FACTS 

BEFORE Christ's comings the Messiah was ex- 
pected by the Jews. Not to speak of the na- 
tional anticipation of the victory of the religion 
of Israel (see Isai. chaps. 40-55), there were two 
important documents current perhaps in the days of 
Jesus, which gave evidence as to the "Messianic 
Expectation," as scholars phrase it. 

The first of these is the detailed account of the 
Messiah in the Psalter of Solomon, chap. 17: 23-51. 
This Psalter, found only in the Septuagint, was 
unquestionably written in Hebrew, and is one of 
our few sources for the history of the Messianic 
hope. (So says Prof. Moore of Andover Theol. 
Seminary.) The passage in question is: 

"Look upon them, O Lord, and set up over them 
their king, son of David, at the time when thou, 
who art God, seest fit, that thy son may rule over 
Israel. 

And gird him with strength to break in pieces 

90 



The History of Jesus 91 

unrighteous rulers. Cleanse Jerusalem from na- 
tions who destroy her in haughtiness. With wis- 
dom, with justice, may he cut sinners off from 
inheritance. May he break in pieces the sinner's 
arrogance like a potter's vessels. With a rod of 
iron may he annihilate all their foundation. May 
he destroy lawless nations by the word of his 
mouth," etc., etc. 

The second document in question is the Simili- 
tudes of the Book of Enoch, comprising chapters 
37-70. These chapters have many points of con- 
tact with the New Testament. They plainly repre- 
sent a Jewish idea of the Messiah, who, after 
Daniel, chap. 7: 13, is called Son-of-Man. The use 
of the phrase by Jesus may have come from this 
writing. (So thinks Prof. Moore of Andover.) 

I note the following extracts from the Simili- 
tudes : 

(Chap. 46) : "And there I saw one who had 
a head of days, and his head was white like wool, 
and with him was another being whose countenance 
was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. 
And I asked the angel who went with me and 
showed me all the hidden things concerning that 
Son of Man . . . this Son of Man whom thou 
hast seen will arouse the kings and the mighty ones 
from their couches and the strong ones from their 
thrones, and will loosen the reins of the strong 
and grind to powder the teeth of the sinners. . . ." 



92 Facts About the Bible 

(Chapter 47 — compare passages in the Book of 
Revelation) : 

"In those days will the holy ones who dwell 
above in the heavens unite with one voice and sup- 
plicate and intercede and laud and give thanks and 
bless the name of the Lord of Spirits on account of 
the blood of the righteous which has been shed, 
and the prayer of the righteous that it may not be 
in vain before the Lord of Spirits, that judgment 
may be done unto them, and that they may not 
have to suffer forever. And in those days I saw 
the Head of Days when he had seated himself on 
the throne of his glory, and the books of the living 
were opened before Him, and His whole host which 
is in heaven above and around Him stood before 
Him," etc. 

Jesus of Nazareth came and taught. In the 
Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), one of the 
most authentic of New Testament documents, we 
have the spirit of his teaching. "I came not to 
destroy, but to fulfill" — to give the golden rule for 
the harsh laws of old-fashioned justice, to bid men 
to pray to "our Father" in secret, to be anxious 
about no worldly thing but to seek the kingdom 
of God, and to do the will of our heavenly Father. 

Jesus was crucified and buried. His followers 
scattered; rallied; gained adherents. Stephen suf- 
fered a martyr's death, Paul standing by consenting 



The History of Jesus 93 

to it. Paul repented, being called by a heavenly 
voice to preach the gospel to all the world. He 
wrote of the appearance of Christ after death (I 
Cor. 15). 

So the Galilean conquered. He became deified. 
His return was expected, on clouds of glory: "they 
shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds 
of heaven with power and great glory" (Matt. 24: 
30). See Matt. 24 and 25; also, Matt. 10:23 
and 13:39-49 and 16:26-28 and 19:28. Com- 
pare Mark 13 and Luke 21 ,* and see also Mark 
8: 38 and 9:1; Luke 17: 20-21 and 9: 26 and 27. 
Paul wrote of the Second Advent I Cor. 10:11, 
I Cor. 7:29-31, I Cor. 4:5, I Cor. 1:4-8, II 
Thess. 1:7-10, Phil. 1:6 and 4:5, I Tim. 6:13 
and 14, II Tim. 4:1. Compare epistles by other 
writers: I Peter 4: 7, James 5: 7-9, I John 2: 18 
and I John 2:28. So that the historian Gibbon is 
amply justified in saying (chap. XV of the De- 
cline and Fall of the Roman Empire) : "It was uni- 
versally believed [among Christians] that the end 
of the world and the kingdom of heaven were at 
hand." "The near approach of this wonderful 
event had been predicted by the apostles." 

What wonder that by the middle of the second 
century A. D. the great teacher of divine truth had 
become deified, and Mary his mother raised to 



94 Facts About the Bible 

sainthood? That all the marvelous stories found 
in the Gospels, of turning water to wine, of reap- 
pearance to doubting Thomas, of escape from 
Herod the Great who slew the infants, had been 
written down? 

Finally the heathen world, through the Jewish 
synagogues scattered in foreign lands and visited 
by such men as Paul, heard the great name of 
Christ. But Christianity was brought into the 
world in a very quiet way. For a century the 
Pagan world hardly knew what had happened, so 
that if you look for references to Jesus in the au- 
thors of the period you will find hardly a trace 
of him. The great Roman historian Tacitus, writ- 
ing about ioo A. D., gives an account of Nero's 
persecution of the mischievous sect called Chris- 
tians, who derived their name and origin from a 
man who suffered death by the sentence of Pontius 
Pilate, governor of Judea. (Bk. 15, chap. 44.) 
There are only some half dozen other references 
to Christ in early Pagan authors, very brief and 
of little interest. 

The kingdom of God grew as quietly as a mus- 
tard seed. In the early days it was of no credit to 
be called a Christian. Sometimes it meant an igno- 
minious death. People of wealth and position, the 
brilliant authors and society leaders of the day, 




The History of Jesus 95 

didn't care to consider the new superstition — for 
superstition they probably called it if they heard 
of Christianity at all. To them it meant the ac- 
ceptance of the belief that Jesus, a person crucified 
in Judea, was the Christ — whatever that might 
mean. For it was not generally understood among 
Greeks and Romans that the Jews had been ex- 
pecting the Messiah [the Hebrew word for Christ] 
and that the followers of Jesus proclaimed that in 
his person the Messiah had come. This is the 
theme of the Gospel of John and the first Epistle 
of John. "Who is the liar," says the Epistle, "but 
he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?" The 
author of Matthew tries to fit the life of Jesus 
into the prophecies of the Old Testament. To a 
Jew such theological questions meant something. 
But to a cultivated Greek or a Roman it was 
only a family quarrel in the house of Israel that 
meant nothing to outsiders. A few plain people, 
who, having no great intellectual pride, waived 
the matter of theology, listened to the main teach- 
ing of this new sect of Christians, and believed that 
the religion of love does come from God. 

The Roman author Pliny the younger, when he 
visited the Province of Bithynia in Asia Minor, 
wrote home to his emperor, Trajan, about this ob- 
scure sect of Christians, whose meetings were caus- 



96 Facts About the Bible 

ing the government some anxiety. This was about 
80 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. Pliny re- 
ports that Christians brought before him for trial 
affirmed : 

"That they were accustomed to assemble on a 
stated day, before light, and sing among themselves, 
alternately, a hymn to Christ, as if God; and to 
bind themselves by an oath, not to any wicked- 
ness, but that they would not commit theft, nor 
robbery, nor adultery, that they would not falsify 
their word, nor when called upon, deny a pledge 
committed to them; which things having been en- 
acted, it was the custom for them to separate and 
again come together to partake of food, a meal 
eaten in common." 



CHAPTER VI 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 



ORIGEN said (first half of third century 
A. D.) "there were two sorts of Ebionites; 
some who believed Jesus to have been born of a 
virgin, as we do; some who supposed Jesus to be 
born as other men are."* And the great scholar 
Lardner said: "We cannot deny that there were 
some believers who supposed Jesus to have been 
born as other men."* 

If we accept at face value the simple words of 
Mark, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, 
and brother of James," etc. (Mark 6:3), and the 
corresponding passages in Matthew and John, "Is 
not this the carpenter's son" (Matt. 13:55), "Is 
not this Jesus the son of Joseph" (John 6:42) — 
if we accept these passages as authentic, the origin 
of Jesus appears as natural as that of George Wash- 
ington. And there is then some significance in 
the genealogy found in the first chapter of Mat- 
thew and ending thus: "Jacob begat Joseph the 

*(See Lardner's Works, Vol. VI, pp. 38a and 383.) 

97 



98 Facts About the Bible 

husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus" (Matt. 
i: 16). On the other hand, those who make his- 
tory of the legends regarding the miraculous birth 
of Jesus must be held responsible for the fanciful 
and fortunately unprovable theory that Jesus was 
an illegitimate child. There is sanity and wisdom 
in the Unitarian doctrine that the origin of Jesus 
was as natural and as pure as the origin of George 
Washington. 

Now Unitarians are charged with denying the 
divinity of Christ. They ought rather to be 
charged with affirming the divinity of all souls. 
The difficulty is that they believe Jesus Christ to 
have come of human parentage. Admit that the 
introductory chapters of Matthew and Luke are 
legendary and you become virtually a Unitarian. 

He who appeared to Paul on the road to Damas- 
cus, whom he believed to have been "born of a 
woman" (Gal. 4:4), "of the seed of David ac- 
cording to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3), had manifested 
in his life the spirit of God, although he became 
accursed through death on the cross. (See Deu- 
teronomy 21:23 an d compare Gal. 3:13.) "As 
many as are led by the spirit of God, these are 
sons of God." (Romans 8: 14.) So Christ was 
in this sense the son of God. Even the Greek poet 
had said: "we are his offspring." (Acts 17:28.) 



The Divinity of Christ 99 

Paul said: "Because ye are sons, God sent forth 
the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, 
Father." (Galatians 4:6.) 

But I will not try to prove that Paul was a 
Unitarian, although I believe he was not a Trini- 
tarian. The Trinity, I suppose, was a product of 
Greek speculative thought, and had no place in the 
simple faith of Jesus himself. Pharisaical doctrine 
formed no part of his creed — his faith was the 
belief in the Fatherhood of God. The penitent 
publican was in his eyes more holy than the self- 
righteous Pharisee. The meek, the merciful, the 
peacemakers, those who hunger and thirst after 
righteousness, the pure in heart — such ones shall be 
called sons of God, such ones shall see the Father. 

In the earliest Christian times there were Chris- 
tians who believed that Jesus came of human par- 
entage. But church organizations built upon the 
more mysterious doctrines. When Constantine made 
a written constitution for the church an anathema 
was provided for all heretics who might not believe 
as the majority of the bishops voted. Jesus was 
voted to have been the one Lord, the only begotten 
of the Father, God from God, very God begotten 
not made. But instead of quieting the heretics, 
the Nicene creed was the beginning of fierce eccle- 
siastical antagonisms in the Eastern church which 



ioo Facts About the Bible 

lasted till the Mohammedans came to end with the 
sword such theological Christianity. The Western 
Church under the leadership of Rome was not 
much concerned with the hair-splitting arguments 
of Greek Christianity, but built solid foundations 
on principles of tolerance. By the middle of the 
fifth century, the Roman bishop had attained such 
authority that he could teach doctrine to the whole 
of Christendom. Leo I (about 450 A. D.) was 
the first Roman bishop who can properly be called 
a Pope. At the council of Chalcedon his views 
as to the nature of Christ were adopted, and they 
form the basis of Christian belief to this day. He 
said that there was in Christ a union of the divine 
and the human, making one nature which we can 
not understand: that this is a matter not to be 
determined by philosophy, but to be shown by Scrip- 
ture and to be accepted on faith. 

The union of divine and human in one nature 
which we cannot understand — this is the belief of 
Unitarians to-day; and if Unitarians have reached 
the conclusion that there is the same kind of union 
of divine and human in every person, it is because 
the leaders of their churches have exercised them- 
selves in the study of Scripture and have faith in 
the soundness of reason. 

If we go back to the New Testament for evi- 



The Divinity of Christ ioi 

dence concerning Jesus we have an authority higher 
than papal decrees or majority votes. Paul bears 
incontrovertible evidence as to the great influence 
of Jesus of Nazareth. He also bears evidence to 
the resurrection of Christ, though in precisely what 
sense it is hard to determine. Was the appearance 
to Cephas and the twelve, to the five hundred breth- 
ren at once, to James, to all the apostles, "and 
last of all, as unto one born out of due time, unto 
me also" — were these phenomena to be paralleled 
in the experience of other religious people, or some- 
thing peculiarly divine? (cf. I Cor. 15). Paul 
also laid the foundation for church doctrines. He 
had been trained a Pharisee, and was skilled in mat- 
ters of the Jewish law. Once converted to Chris- 
tianity he brought with him not only his zeal, but 
his facility for Scriptural interpretation and for 
theorizing, also. His beloved master became for 
him the especial Son of God. A Greek poet had 
truly said that all men are his offspring; and "as 
many as are led by the spirit of God, these are 
sons of God," said Paul. But further: Jesus is the 
Christ, the Anointed One, the Second Adam faith 
in whom was to abrogate the divine law of Moses 
and give the freedom that is in Christ (Rom. 5). 
A modern world which denies that Moses wrote 
the Pentateuch and which regards the story of 



102 Facts About the Bible 

Adam and Eve merely as an allegory can not but 
be relieved to turn from the theology of Paul to 
the simple soul-religion of Jesus himself. 

Thus we turn from church councils where the 
majority ruled, and from the testimony of the first 
great Christian missionary to the gospels. A little 
study of the gospels brings to light an important 
fact: namely, that the first three gospels, the synop- 
tics as they are called, contain a narrative of Jesus' 
ministry, while the Fourth Gospel is largely doc- 
trinal. It was "written that ye may believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that 
believing ye may have life in his name." Every 
page of the book aims to teach this doctrine. There 
is a little book called "Children of God and Union 
with Christ" recently sent out under the auspices 
of the Rev. John Hall of New York, and intended 
to arouse people unsound in doctrine to a sense 
of their mortal danger of hell-fire. If we examine 
the texts cited in the end of the little book, we 
find that the majority of them were taken from 
the Fourth Gospel. One of these texts reads: "No 
man cometh unto the Father but by me." Another 
reads: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlast- 
ing life" : but for some reason the words that im- 
mediately follow in the gospel have been omitted. 
The full gospel reading is: "He that believeth on 



The Divinity of Christ 103 

the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth 
not [or, as exegetes prefer, "obeyeth not JJ ] the Son 
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth 
on him." (John 3:36.) 

Now, I should be the last to deny that many a 
soul has found salvation by adhering to the doc- 
trines of the Fourth Gospel. But I believe that 
such a passage as this is unchristian, untrue to the 
character of him who taught: "Not every one that 
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of 
my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21.) 
When we look into the history of the Fourth Gos- 
pel it turns out to be very doubtful what the origin 
of that gospel was. 

It seems safer to turn to the synoptics for the 
best account of Jesus and his teaching. Here we 
find little that is doctrinal. His divinity the teacher 
does not need to prove. When asked by what 
authority he doeth these things, he asks by what 
authority John the Baptist came preaching. (Mark 
1 1 : 30. ) There are, indeed, many things in the 
synoptics which go to support the doctrinal teach- 
ing of the Fourth Gospel. There is the text at 
the end of Matthew: "All power is given to me 
in heaven and in earth" — but we distrust the his- 
torical value of the conclusion of Matthew as we 



104 Facts About the Bible 

distrust the historical value of the beginning. There 
is the text imbedded in the body of the gospel: "All 
things have been delivered unto me of my Father: 
and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; 
neither doth any know the Father save the Son and 
he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him." 
(Matt. 11:27.) But this accords rather with the 
stories of the miraculous birth than with the spirit 
of the Sermon on the Mount. 

Treat the gospels as we treat the Old Testament 
— make due allowance for stories of the marvellous 
and the products of oriental imagination — and we 
arrive at a religion which is summed up in the 
words, "love to God and man." This I believe to 
have been the religion of Jesus. In teaching this 
pure religion he proved himself to have been di- 
vine, gifted with a deeper insight into truth than 
belonged to Pharisee or Sadducee. 

That he claimed for himself a peculiar divinity 
different in kind as well as in degree from that of 
his followers does not appear to be attested on 
trustworthy evidence. Indeed, we have in the 
synoptics a bit of evidence to the contrary: "who- 
soever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, 
it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever shall speak 
against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven." 
(Matt. 12:32.) Or consider the parallel passages 



The Divinity of Christ 105 

in Mark and Luke which read: "Good master, 
what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me 
good? None is good save one, even God." (Mark 
10: 17 and 18; Luke 18: 18 and 19.) 

To be sure, the oldest text of Matthew reads: 
"Master what good thing shall I do, that I may 
have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why 
askest thou me concerning that which is good? 
One there is who is good." (Matt. 19: 16 and 

17.) 

Now if we act on the principle of Dr. Ezra Ab- 
bot, that in the case of differing paralleled passages 
in the three synoptics, Mark represents the source 
from which the gospels of Luke and Matthew drew, 
we find that in the case in hand the objectionable 
words, "Why callest thou me good?" are not only 
confirmed by Luke, but are probably the basis of 
the text in Matthew. The writer in Matthew ap- 
pears to have changed the words about — instead of 
"Good master, what shall I do" he wrote "Master 
what good thing shall I do." And in adapting the 
rest of the passage he spoiled the sense: "Why 
askest thou me concerning that which is good? 
One there is who is good." I must believe that 
Mark and Luke are right. This is what the scribe 
must have thought who penned the Greek text 



106 Facts About the Bible 

from which King James's Version was taken. In 
King James's Version all three passages read alike. 

"Why callest thou me good? none is good save 
one, even God." Here then, connected with a 
passage of evident authenticity, a passage bearing 
all the marks of an actual reminiscence of Jesus' 
teaching, we have a disclaimer from Jesus of any 
pretensions to especial divinity. He points the ques- 
tioner to the One great Good — God. This seems 
perfectly in keeping with the character of the Son 
of Man who had "not where to lay his head." If 
this view of the divinity of Christ be correct, such 
language makes Jesus only the more divine. But 
if the special divinity of Christ be maintained, those 
who ask us to accept this doctrine or call Christ an 
impostor must tell us why Jesus imposed on his 
followers by such pretended humility. 

"Impostor" — we do wrong to indulge in such 
terms when dealing with the doubting Nathanaels 
of to-day. 

Need we ask what Jesus himself would have us 
believe concerning his divinity? Certainly he be- 
lieved that God was his Father: but he taught men 
to pray Our Father. He taught with authority — 
but so did John the Baptist, and so did those who 
penned the Law and the Prophets of Hebrew Scrip- 
ture. He loved the publicans and sinners and his 



The Divinity of Christ 107 

own enemies; and shed his influence as generously 
as sunshine, which blesses both the just and the 
unjust. When he died it was not to maintain any 
doctrine of his divinity. Had it been so, his gospel 
would have become a theology — as many learned 
but foolish men have endeavored to make it. He 
offered up his own divine life freely, not asking to 
be crowned King of the Jews, but saying simply, 
"The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God 
is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel." 
(Mark 1:15.) No wonder that such unselfish 
love could conquer the fanaticism of a Paul, and 
merit the name, Son of God. 

Perhaps he realized the greatness of his mission 
- — to transmit to future centuries the pure faith 
in God which his nation had cherished during cen- 
turies past — to free religion from the externalities 
of Scribe and Pharisee — to fulfill the law and the 
prophets — and so to put into the hearts of men 
the leaven that would leaven the whole fabric of 
human society. It was the grandest mission that 
ever man had, and he fulfilled it faithfully, even 
unto death. 

It would have been strange if philosophy had 
not seen in the great-souled Galilean the Son of 
Heaven's King come down to earth. 

We look up at the stars, and wonder who the 



108 Facts About the Bible 

saviors of souls in other planets and other systems 
may have been. We turn our thoughts back to 
earth, and find in many a heathen heart the Christ- 
like spirit. At last we recognize that all souls 
have a spark of the same divinity that glowed in 
Christ's heart. And so we deny Christ's divinity? 
Not at all — we recognize that God is our Father, 
as Christ taught. We affirm the divinity of all 
souls. It is true that some souls do not accept their 
heritage of divine truth and love. We are weak, 
and the struggle of life is hard. Not a saint but 
would say "Why callest thou me good?" We need 
the encouragement of friends and loved ones. We 
need inspiration from our great Master. So as 
long as the earth endures there will be men called 
Christians. The divinity of Christ will forever 
be acknowledged by good and earnest souls who 
look to him as sent in God's Providence to turn 
men's hearts to the kingdom of heaven. 



CHAPTER VII 



LIVE ISSUES 



LET us inquire what effect the higher criticism 
of the Bible has upon life. "Let us hear the 
conclusion of the whole matter." Its first effect is 
to simplify things, to make life more natural, freer, 
nobler. We are reminded of the words of Micah: 
"what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do 
justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with thy God ?" With the formalism of the Scribes 
and Pharisees of this generation swept aside, the 
nobility and sublimity of the religion of Jesus him- 
self appears: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
all thy mind. This is the first and great command- 
ment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two com- 
mandments hang all the law and the prophets." 

Such has been the faith of all great souls in all 
times whatever their nationality. It was not the 
exclusive heritage of those self-styled "chosen peo- 
ple," the Jews. Our own ancestors in the forests 

109 



no Facts About the Bible 

of Saxony revered the great All-Father. Noble 
Greeks and Romans were as true to a neighbor as 
ever Jew was. Centuries before the Christian era 
India and China were not without the light of 
true religion. In all lands at all times the war- 
fare between flesh and spirit goes on. The vital 
power of Christ's gospel is essentially the same as 
the vital power of every gospel — the appeal it 
makes to our higher instincts. Of all gospels 
Christ's has been the most elevating because his per- 
sonality was greater, more spiritual, than that of 
other prophets. The Higher Criticism establishes 
this simple fact, clears the air of the mists and fogs 
of theology, and leaves us in the pure atmosphere of 
truth. 

The Higher Criticism dispels that brood of sanc- 
timonious thoughts which make their appeal to our 
inherited religious prejudices but which we know 
in our hearts to be evil. Take, for example, this 
idea of a "chosen people." In the economy of Na- 
ture it may have been fortunate that the Hebrews 
regarded themselves as God's chosen people; for 
from the stem of Jesse sprang the supreme religious 
genius of the human race. But it was the chosen 
people who rejected Jesus. The Germans to-day 
are obsessed with the idea that they are God's 



Live Issues in 

chosen people, ordained to give kultur to the earth. 
Heaven defend us from the deceit, brutality, and 
tyranny of the Prussians ! We Americans feel that 
we are the chosen people. Let us hope that we may 
preserve the freedom we have inherited and trans- 
mit it to posterity. But let us not lull ourselves 
to sleep with the comforting thought that we are 
God's chosen people and that therefore He will 
take care of us. Let us rather trust in God and 
keep our powder dry. A chosen people should not 
be self-chosen. God's chosen people must neces- 
sarily be good people, and good people everywhere, 
of whatever nationality, are God's people. 

Take this idea of the sacredness of the Sabbath. 
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" — it is 
one of the ten commandments of Moses. Jesus 
said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 
If we keep every day of the seven holy, it will not 
be necessary to join the Seventh Day Adventists. Let 
us free ourselves of the superstition that God trans- 
mitted His commandments to Moses on tables of 
stone. His commandments are written in the hu- 
man heart. No church or priest should scare us 
with a bug-a-boo when we have graduated from the 
nursery of theology. If the civil authorities have 
established one day in seven as a day of rest, I 



H2 Facts About the Bible 

am thankful for it. It is good to relax, and to 
contemplate things higher and better than the things 
of this world. 

Take this idea of a creed, in its narrow sense. 
Of course, in the true sense of the word, every man, 
good or bad, has a creed. As I believe so I do. 
But I stoutly refuse to repeat the formula that 
Jesus was the only begotten Son of God. To me 
this seems blasphemous — a foolish attempt to be- 
little God and to belittle Jesus. God is the Father 
of us all, as Jesus taught. The high-priests of 
to-day who deify Jesus belong to the same breed 
of high-priests who crucified him nineteen centuries 
ago. Is it not absurd that the noble Jesus whom 
they crucified has been adopted by these spiritual 
tyrants into their family of gods and that they 
threaten with eternal damnation the Jesus of to- 
day who will not bend before their altars? 

Take this idea of God's promises. In a spiritual 
sense, what thought can be more sublime than the 
thought of God's promises declared unto mankind 
through Christ Jesus our Lord? Here is the prom- 
ise that we may become Christ-like, that we may 
have the courage to be crucified, if need be, in the 
line of duty. But when some fanatic begins to 
tell me of God's promises as declared in His Word, 
I am tempted to tell him that God never signed 



Live Issues 113 

any promissory notes. Those who think He did 
so are likely to perish as the Armenians have per- 
ished. God's promises, like His laws, are im- 
planted in the human heart. If we have inherited 
strength, He promises us long life, provided we 
will be temperate, and defend ourselves from the 
Turk. If we have been gifted with talents, He 
promises us riches and honor, provided we will 
make good use of our talents. If we have the will 
to fight for truth and justice, we may be crowned 
with thorns, but we shall receive His benediction: 
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant . . . 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

Finally, take this idea of the Word of God. It 
will probably be many years before the ministers 
of our churches get over the pernicious habit of 
referring to the Bible as the Word of God. It is 
the word of man. God did not write it. Even 
when He sent Jesus into the world, He did not 
make a scribe of him. Not one word of the New 
Testament did Jesus write; nor did God write one 
word of the whole Bible. Of course, the retort is 
that God inspired it. Parts of it, yes. Other parts 
of it, no. As a revelation of human nature the 
Bible is valuable from cover to cover — Protestant 
Bible or Catholic Bible. But as a revelation of 
God it must be used with discrimination, else we 



114 Facts About the Bible 

shall be hanging witches again or establishing polyg- 
amy. The reason people make a fetish of the Bible 
now-a-days is that they don't study it, don't realize 
the fierce barbarity of the "chosen people," don't 
know what crimes are therein calmly charged up 
to the Lord. As a matter of fact, in reading the 
Bible ministers and people do use discrimination 
constantly. Nobody cares who begat Serug or whom 
Serug begat. We select the noblest passages of the 
Bible just as we select for our delectation the best 
poems of Tennyson, and we may then say truly, 
whether the author be Tennyson or Jeremiah, "thus 
saith the Lord." 

So much by way of clearing the ground of theo- 
logical rubbish. What does the true theology say 
of evil? Of sorrow, sickness, poverty, and sin? 
In vain do Christian Scientists ignore disease and 
death. In vain do social reformers devise new 
schemes to eliminate poverty and sin. In vain do 
the noise and distraction of civilization seek to 
drown the voice of sorrow. Still we hear the cry 
of David: "Oh Absalom, my son, my son!" 

There is no denying the heart's need of com- 
fort, solace, and forgiveness. Upon this vital need 
have the churches of all faiths and nations been 
established; and mankind will never outgrow this 
need. For the more virtuous a man becomes the 



Live Issues 115 

more sensitive becomes his conscience; the happier 
he becomes the more liable is he to the crudest sor- 
row; the wiser he becomes the vaster appears the 
realm of the unknown. In man flesh and spirit are 
always in unstable equilibrium. 

The only satisfactory solution of the matter is 
that offered by the churches: human life is the 
Great Artificer's workshop, where He fashions souls 
and purifies them in the fire of experience as gold 
is refined by fire. Because He desires man to master 
the forces of nature, He afflicts him with poverty, 
bids him till the soil, dig for coal and iron, seek 
for riches across the sea. Because He would have 
us clean, pure, and wise, He sends us diseases that 
we may conquer them. Because He would have us 
prize the spirit rather than the flesh, he sends death. 
He deprives us of our dearest companions that we 
may turn our thoughts to that which never dies. 
Because He desires us to rise to the dignity of 
immortal souls, He bids us wrestle with poverty, 
ignorance, disease, and death. And because He 
would have us realize the divinity of the human 
soul, He permits that worst of evils, sin, making it 
possible for us to destroy our souls. Because He 
would have us overcome evil with good, He sends 
His prophets to preach forgiveness to the soul that 
repenteth. Not that God would tempt us to sin 



n6 Facts About the Bible 

in order to forgive us: the ideal of the sinless 
Jesus shines before us. The forces that work for 
truth, righteousness, and love are constantly draw- 
ing us nearer to God — provided always that we will 
work with God and not seek to destroy ourselves. 
For as free moral agents we can commit the suicide 
of the soul. 

Let us inquire next what fruits we may expect 
to gather from this tree of the Higher Criticism. 
It is a goodly tree, despite the contrary opinion of 
some of our brethren, and it bears good fruit. 

We of this generation can hardly hope to surpass 
in nobility of character sainted men who have gone 
before us; but we can preserve an open mind and 
a teachable spirit and march on with the race to 
higher planes of living. To Christian meekness 
and forbearance let us add the valor and indomita- 
ble resolution of our Pagan ancestors. In the preach- 
ing of Christianity there has often been the taint of 
morbidness, self-effacement, false humility. Witness 
the doctrines of celibacy and non-resistance. Tolstoi 
advocated both these doctrines, and found his war- 
rant for so doing in the New Testament. Although 
himself the father of thirteen children, he argued 
for the doctrine of celibacy, maintaining that a 
parent for the sake of his children is forced to fight 
his way in the world, and that all fighting is wrong, 



Live Issues 117 

as Christ has taught us to turn the other cheek. 
It is not necessary that we inquire as to the exact 
teaching of Jesus. If, feeling the burden of op- 
pression under which his race had labored for cen- 
turies, he advocated the doctrine of non-resistance 
and in his own life gave us an example of celibacy, 
we serve him best not in the spirit of imitation and 
subserviency, saying, "Lord, Lord" ; but in the 
spirit of obedience to the will of the Heavenly 
Father. Such was his teaching. 

With the preaching of Malthus the blight of 
race-suicide struck America. The waste of our 
better womanhood is more disastrous than the rav- 
ages of war. A so-called high standard of living 
has been set up which is in reality a low, material 
standard; and women who should become mothers 
rush to the industrial centres to become slaves. Even 
professors of political economy in our universities 
advocate the policy that forbids marriage on a 
salary smaller than $5,000 a year. Such a policy 
would lead to the propagation of the ignorant and 
vicious and would mean race-suicide for the intelli- 
gent. Let women as well as men renounce the 
cowardly doctrines of non-resistance and celibacy 
and stand with those who bear the burdens of civil- 
ization. 

It is the duty of civilized man to maintain him- 



u8 Facts About the Bible 

self. The martyrdom of hundreds of thousands of 
Armenians ought to establish this truth for all time. 
The four thousand Armenian men, women, and 
children who fled to the mountains, where for 
fifty-three days they fought off the Turks until 
rescued by a squadron of French and English ships, 
not only saved themselves but with their few old- 
fashioned rifles shot more decency into the lustful 
heart of the Turk than was implanted there by 
the hundreds of thousands who perished like sheep. 
Sentimentalists are wont to deplore Nature's law 
of the survival of the fittest. How much more de- 
plorable that the intelligent and industrious popu- 
lation of Armenia should have been destroyed to 
secure the survival of the unfit! 

Civilized man must maintain himself against his 
enemies be they germs or Germans. Many brave 
men will perish in the struggle. Self-sacrifice seems 
to be an essential part of the divine economy. But 
whether we are to live or die, let us fight like 
men, with faces toward the enemy. Let us preserve 
the spirit of Christian charity; but let us not count 
it Christian charity to allow Turk or German to 
massacre our neighbors or ourselves. 

Why specify other moral attributes that should 
spring from the root of truth? Once aroused to 
fight for righteousness we shall find no lack of 



Live Issues 119 

good causes. Let us rather seek inspiration, with- 
out which the heart grows sick and resolution fails. 
Fleeing to the wilderness before the wrath of some 
modern Jezebel, the strong man cries: "It is 
enough: now, O Lord, take away my life; for I 
am not better than my fathers." 

There is inspiration in comradeship. Brother- 
hoods, religious societies, civil institutions and gov- 
ernments have been established to fortify and hold 
the territory won by civilized man from the powers 
of darkness. Let us rejoice in the goodly fellow- 
ship on every hand. So long as politics and religion 
are barred, good men everywhere will open their 
hearts to you. How foolish to try to carry the 
whole burden of civilization on one's own shoulders, 
when our neighbors are as loyal to truth and right 
as we. No man needs to exaggerate his own im- 
portance or to cherish gloomy thoughts over his 
own poor achievements when once he realizes how 
vast and powerful are the armies of the Lord. In 
any and every line of endeavor the human race is 
superior to the individual. Forget self and find 
encouragement, renewed confidence, and strength 
by entering into the comradeship of your fellows. 
Any true man, minister or layman, will extend the 
right hand of fellowship. 

Because there is inspiration in numbers and or- 



120 Facts About the Bible 

ganization society has established churches. There 
is every reason to believe that the disciples of the 
Higher Criticism should organize in order to min- 
ister to the needs of intelligent men. There are al- 
ready a few liberal churches scattered through the 
United States — Unitarian, Universalist, Congrega- 
tional. These we should cherish and strengthen, 
not only for our own sakes (and great is our need 
of them) but also for the sake of the nation. Let 
us maintain these altars to the true God, who is 
the God of truth. Let us organize the forces of 
intelligence. In the majority of the Christian 
churches of the country it is doubtful if Jesus could 
recognize the religion which bears his name. Where 
people are forever chanting about the trinity could 
he recognize the pure monotheism which he taught? 
A reform as great as Luther's is taking place. In 
spite of the Tom Paines and the Ingersolls we are 
preserving the sublime poetry of the Bible and 
learning to include in our Scripture the wealth of 
science and literature. 

The day of a timid, doubtful liberalism is past. 
It is no longer necessary to "believe, as it were, 
and repent, so to speak, or be damned, in a way." 
The sparkling new wine of truth has burst the old 
bottles. Let us build up and strengthen our lib- 
eral churches lest it run to waste. No spiritual 



Live Issues 12 1 

wealth is too great to lavish upon our churches. 
It is right that Unitarians like Sir John Bowring, 
Sarah Adams, Theodore Parker, and John Chad- 
wick should have given us some of the most beau- 
tiful hymns in the English language. It is fitting 
that we should have had sermons as noble as Chan- 
ning's and Emerson's and James Walker's. Teach- 
ers and philanthropists we have had. There has 
been, and there should be in the future, no stinting 
of spiritual riches. 

But in the matter of material riches we should 
be careful. A great movement can be crippled by 
contracting debts, by attempting to make an out- 
ward display to attract the crowd. Men who live 
the life of the spirit are not likely to be well sup- 
plied with this world's goods. It will hardly do to 
ask some holy pirate who has amassed millions at 
the expense of honest men to build us a noble edi- 
fice. We need to remind ourselves of the poverty 
of Jesus and his disciples. The church, the society, 
is the real and helpful thing, not the building which 
shelters it. The free man is not dependent upon 
a church building or even upon an organized church 
society. He can commune with other free souls 
everywhere — in books, at the club, in the market- 
place. Hence the difficulty in organizing and main- 
taining a liberal church. Let us not make the diffi- 



122 Facts About the Bible 

culty any greater by running into debt. Let us be 
content with a simple home, pervaded by an atmos- 
phere of comfort and good cheer. The church at- 
mosphere is the principal thing, and this must de- 
pend upon the people who compose the society. 
Where there are truth and good-fellowship and 
earnestness there we shall have a strong and use- 
ful church. 

It is, finally, of supreme importance to inquire 
what vision inspires the disciple of liberalism. The 
chief objection to the liberal church arises no doubt 
from the belief that it has come to destroy rather 
than to fulfil. But liberalism offers more dazzling 
rewards than salvation and the golden streets of the 
new Jerusalem. Yet, when we substitute for the 
vision of orthodoxy our enthusiasm for humanity, 
establishing hospitals, schools for the unfortunate, 
social settlements, do we satisfy the highest need 
of the soul? We, too, must have a heavenly vision 
to beckon us. We may sacrifice treasure, and even 
life, in good works, and still excite the pity of some 
old-fashioned saint who sadly shakes his head over 
our mistaken efforts. Surely we want no man's 
pity. Have we not won the larger truth, and is 
not that in itself a more glorious thing to contem- 
plate than all the visions that have vanished? Is 
it not a glorious privilege to live and fight for the 



Live Issues 123 

truth, to help others know it and love it? Yes, 
the truth is more precious than anything it re- 
places. 

But we need not rest here. Let us look for- 
ward in confidence to the truth that God will yet 
reveal. Let us believe in and work for the salva- 
tion of immortal souls even more piously than our 
elders have. Let us believe that none of the doc- 
trines of immortality is so comforting or so glorious 
as the truth that shall be revealed to us when we 
pass through the gates of death. Let us believe 
it worth while to redeem one human soul that it 
may taste the fruits of salvation. Above all, let us 
enter into immortality here and now through the 
medium of prayer. Let me not pretend to suggest 
how the soul should commune with God. But let 
me urge that nothing in the Higher Criticism 
should obscure our vision of that Heavenly Father 
to whom Jesus prayed. 









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